The photographer

Chris
Kirsch

A Black Hills photographer exploring the landscape and wildlife of the American West through natural-color and infrared imagery.

Based in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Christian “Chris” Kirsch is a landscape and wildlife photographer. Together with his wife, Kirsten, he operates Crow Peak Photography, a practice shaped by the quieter roads, changing weather, wildlife, and open country of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and the greater Yellowstone region.

Chris’s interest in photography began with journalism, and that documentary foundation continues to guide his work. He strives to preserve the integrity of the moment in front of the camera, relying on patient observation, careful composition, and thoughtful capture rather than heavy digital manipulation to manufacture a desired result.

His signature DakotaChrome series expands that philosophy through a modified infrared camera, carefully selected optical filters, and a meticulously developed false-color palette. The process transforms familiar western terrain into vivid relationships of red, pink, cyan, and retained natural color while remaining rooted in a real place and a photographic encounter.