Santa Fe and Los Angeles based Cira Crowell, founder of InLightWorks Productions, is a fine art photographer, mountaineer, philanthropist, and executive producer whose initial film Dream Mountain won “Best Mountainfilm” at the London Mountainfilm Festival and has appeared in 14 top-tier international festivals including seven Mountainfilm Alliance festivals, in Nepal, Italy, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Nepal and Poland. Dream Mountain has also been chosen for the esteemed Banff Mountainfilm Festival World Tour reaching audiences in 40 countries over the next three years.

Cira began taking pictures 30 years ago with a Leicaflex SL2 film camera that once belonged to her grandfather. Her passion for photography and Leica has continued as she travels internationally photographing some of the world’s most engaging natural and urban landscapes. She has spent much of her career working at very high altitude, including trekking nearly 2,000 miles in Nepal and summiting four technical Himalayan peaks over 20,000 feet (6,000m+). Most recently, she summited India’s highest mountain, the otherworldly 8,586m /28,269ft Kangchenjunga, the subject of her latest body of work. Cira’s photographs have been exhibited worldwide, most recently at the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles.

Cira earned her M.A. from SCAD and enjoys teaching advanced black and white photography annually at Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Her work has been exhibited Leica Gallery Los Angeles, the Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, California, Mountainfilm on Tour Savannah, Nepal Tourism Board and Tibet House: US, New York, among others. She has also published four books of her photographs, with Beautiful Resilience: The Enduring Spirit of Upper Gorkha Nepal, Envisioning Ecstasy, and 108 Visions: Ladakh During the Kalachakra created to raise awareness and support humanitarian projects including Nomads Clinic, Tibet House US, Little Suns and GearsForGirls. As a fine artist Cira creates new media drawings and projected animations. This work has been exhibited across the United States. 

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Image: On the summit of Imja Tse, by Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita, 2022
Image: Crossing Renjo-La with Cholatse, by Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita, 2019

Exhibitions
Leica Gallery Los Angeles + Leica Women Foto Project “Dream Mountain,” March 8 – April 3, 2022
Kathmandu International Film Festival/Kathmandu: “Dreaming of Dream Mountain,” 2021
Mountainfilm On Tour/Savannah, “Luminous Everest,” 2019
Dolpo Tulku Charitable Trust/Frankfurt, Germany: “Mysterious Himalaya: Impressions of Dolpo,” 2017
Leica Gallery LA/Los Angeles: “Broad Strokes,” 2016
Tibet House US/New York: “Envisioning Ecstasy,” 2015
Currents New Media Festival/Santa Fe, New Mexico: “Turning Thought,” 2013
Robert Berman Gallery/Santa Monica: “InLight” Solo Exhibition, 2012
Currents New Media Festival/Santa Fe, New Mexico: “Prana” projected animation, 2012
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art: “Prana” projected animation, 2012
William Turner Gallery/Pacific Standard Time/Santa Monica: “Ed’s Party: Spheres of Influence,” “Duality” illustration, 2012
Red Dot Art Fair, Art/Basel Miami, projected animation, 2009
Eileen Braziel Fine Art/Santa Fe: “Fall Show,” projected animation, 2009
River Oaks Arts Center/Alexandria, Solo Exhibition, 2003

Events
Santa Fe Workshops: “Gifts of Kangchenjunga” Instructor Series Publi Talk, 2022 
Leica Gallery Los Angeles + Leica Women Foto Project: Screening of Dream Mountain, plus Artist’s Talk “Making the Dream Real,” March 30, 2022
Banff World Tour/Salt Lake City, Introduction and Screening of “Dream Mountain” 2022
Santa Fe Film Festival, Artist’s Talk, “Making the Dream Real” 2022
Leica Store LA: IG Live Interview, 2020
ASMP/NM Artist’s Talk, “Project Spotlight,” 2021
Leica LA: Coffee, Cameras and Conversation with Cira Crowell: “Sharing the Light” 2016
Collected Works Bookstore Launch and Artist’s Talk: “Beautiful Resilience: The Enduring Spirit of Upper Gorkha Nepal” 2015

Film Tours and Festivals:
“Best Mountain Film,” London Mountain Film Festival, Worldwide Premiere, United Kingdom, 2020
Banff World Tour, International, 2022
Kendal On Tour, United Kingdom, 2022
Coast Film Festival, United States, 2022
Femmes En Montaigne, France, 2022
Bansko Mountain Film Festival, Bulgaria, 2022
Cine Montagne, France, 2022
Frontier Sapiens, United Kingdom, 2022
No Mans Land Tour, United States, 2022
Breck Mountain Film Festival 2022
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, United States, 2022
Krakow Mountain Festival, Poland, 2020
London Mountain Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2020
New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, New Zealand, 2020
Wasatch Mountain Film Festival, United States, 2022
Autrans International Mountain Film Festival, France, 2021
Graz Mountain Film Festival, Switzerland, 2021
Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, Nepal, 2021
Kendal Mountain Festival, United Kingdom, 2021
Santa Fe Film Festival, United States, 2021
Trento Film Festival, Italy, 2021

Corporate Collection
Leica Camera USA

Not For Profit
Dzi Foundation, 2020
Dolpo Tulku Charitable Trust, 2018
Nomads Clinic, Dolpa, Nepal, 2017
Explorers Club, 2017
Little Suns Solar Lights, 2017
Nomads Clinic, Dolpa, Nepal, 2016
Nomads Clinic, Dolpa, Nepal, 2015
Tibet House US/New York, 2015
Tibet House US/Menla Retreat Center, 2015
Nomads Clinic, Gorkha, Nepal, 2013
Upaya Zen Center, 2010-2017
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Board of Directors and National Council, 2007-2015

High Altitude Experience
Manaslu reached Camp III, 23,000ft October 2022
Kangchenjunga, 28,169ft/8,586m, third highest mountain in the world, Nepal – Summited May 6, 2022
Imja Tse, 20,210ft/6,160m, Nepal – Summited April 27, 2022
Lobuche, 20,075ft/6,145m, Nepal – Summited November 20, 2021
Cholatse, 21,130ft/6,446m, Nepal – Summited November 14, 2019
Mt. Fuji, 12,388ft/3,776m, Japan – Summited September 15, 2015
Mt. Rainier, 14,411ft/4,392m, United States – Summited July 8, 2013
Trekked over 1,988m/3,200km, including numerous 17,000ft+ passes, Nepal, 2013-2022

Teaching
Santa Fe Workshops, “The Language of Black And White,” Sponsored by Leica Camera, July 11-15, 2022
Kathmandu International Film Festival: Masterclass, “Making the Dream Real,” 2021
Santa Fe Workshops, “The Language of Black and White,” 2021
Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, “The Language of Black and White,” 2020
Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, “The Language of Black and White,” 2019
Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, “The Language of Black and White,” 2018
Palm Springs Photo Festival: Cira Crowell: “Nepal Illuminated: New Technology in the High Himalaya,” 2018

Professional Affiliations
American Society of Media Photographers
Leica Historical Society of America

Education
MA Savannah College of Art and Design

Press
The Guardian: “From Epic cycling, Tough Climbs and Elemental Suffering: the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Now Touring the UK.” 2022
The Pill Outdoor: “Dream Mountain”, 2022
Alpinist Magazine 2020
Leica Women Foto Project: “Her Legacy” 2020
London Mountain Film Festival: “Best Of” 2020
GearPatrol/Leica Camera: “How One Photographer Finds Her Light From New Mexico To Mount Everest” 2019
Santa Fe Reporter, 2018
Leica Fotografie International: “Luminous Everest” 2018
Leica Camera Blog: “Nepal Illuminated” 2018
The Travel Photographer Blog: “Koyasan” 2018
Nomads Clinic Social Action, 2017
Leica Camera Blog: “Broad Strokes” at Leica Gallery LA, 2016
Leica Camera Blog: “Surf Lotus” 2016
Leica Meet: Selection of Excellence, 2016
Leica Meet: Interview by Olaf Willoughby: “Working and Serving in the Himalayas,” 2017
Leica Camera Blog: Interview, “Envisioning Ecstasy” 2016
John Paul Caponigro Blog, 2015
THE Magazine, Santa Fe, International Spotlight, 2015
Santa Fean: Art Profile “Flashing Forward” 2013
Huffington Post: Review “In Light” 2012
Los Angeles Times: “Innovators ’09: The Illuminated Artist” Brand X, 2009

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©Cira Crowell 2023 All images are owned by Cira Crowell
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