Chris Rainier is considered one of the leading documentary photographers working today. His mysterious images of sacred places and indigenous peoples of the planet have been seen in leading publications including Time, Life, National Geographic publications, Outside, Conde Nast Traveler, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, Islands, The New Yorker, German and French Geo, and the publications of the International Red Cross, the United Nations and Amnesty International.

Rainier’s photographs and books have been widely exhibited and collected around the world, including with the George Eastman House in Rochester, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, the Australian Museum in Sydney, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the United Nations, the Friends of Photography (Carmel, California ), the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American Art library in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art library in California, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Chicago Cultural Center, the National Geographic Society Explorers’ Hall and the Houston Museum of Science.

Rainier has received awards for his photography including: five Picture of the Year awards for his continued documentation of vanishing tribes, a Communication Arts award for his latest book on New Guinea, an Alfred Eisenstadt Award in 1998 for his photography of the Sahara Desert, and an International Golden Light Award in 1994 for his first book, Keepers of the Spirit. Chris was recently included in American Photo Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Working in Photography Today list. His second book, Where Masks Still Dance: New Guinea, was published in 1996 with an exhibition that is curently touring museums in North America and Asia. He is presently working on a book documenting tattooing and scarification around the world in both traditional and contemporary cultures. Rainier continues to lecture and teach seminars on the use of photography as a social tool, internationally and in North America. He lives among the mountains and streams of Aspen, Colorado.