The Photographer

Steven Baigel is a fine art and travel/documentary photographer, and documentary filmmaker with a degree in fine arts and art history from the University of New Mexico. Steven has been traveling and photographing Tibetan exile culture in Nepal and India (including Ladakh and Sikkim) since 1990, spending much time among the exiled Tibetan people. As a world traveler, he has also traveled and photographed extensively in many other countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. For over 30 years Steven has been actively working for social change in the areas of environmental protection, peace, and social/political justice. Steven has been a long-time supprter of the causes of Tibetan freedom, self-determination, and preservation of their endangered cultural heritage. (A portion of proceeds from the sale, or publication of any and all images in the TIBET IN EXILE photographic portfolio will benefit health and education programs in the Tibetan exile community of Bir, in Himachal Pradesh, India.) As a documentary filmmaker, Steven is currently producing and directing four documentaries: WELCOME TO SPACE & MISSILE COUNTRY examines & critiques the U.S. government's National Ballistic Missile Defense weapons programs (aka Star Wars) with a particular focus on the role of Vandenberg Air Force Base in the development & deployment of this system. The film also focuses on the local, national, & international citizens' grassroots nonviolent opposition movement against missile defense and the weaponization of space. WITH UNDIVIDED FAITH: A PORTRAIT OF A TIBETAN EXILE COMMUNITY examines contemporary life in the Tibetan exile settlement of Bir, in Himachal Pradesh state of northern India. Due to the brutal and illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet many thousands of Tibetans have made the arduous and extremely dangerous journey over the Himalayas to freedom in exile. Bir is a Tibetan settlement formed in the mid 1960s primarily by Tibetans from the province of Kham in eastern Tibet. The documentary focuses primarily on three different families, their daily lives and rituals, hopes and fears for the survival of Tibetan culture. THAT WHICH COLORS THE MIND©: The Life and Music of Nikhil Banerjee on the life and music of Indian classical sitarist Nikhil Banerjee. Born in Calcutta, Nikhil Banerjee was one of the towering figures in North Indian Hindustani classical music and a master of the sitar. Though he traveled and performed extensively in the West, being a quiet and humble man who shunned publicity, very little is known of his enormous contributions to world music. PAWO THUPTEN NGODUP, A memorial tribute short in tribute to Pawo Thupten Ngodup, who in April 1998 self-immolated as protest against the lack of international attention to the plight and suffering of Tibet and the Tibetan people under Chinese occupation. It is dedicated to his sacrifice, and to the Tibetan people.