Kirsten Rebekah Bethmann, professionally known as Kirsten Lewis, is an internationally recognized documentary photographer, photojournalist, educator, and public speaker based in Denver, Colorado. For more than 25 years, she has documented people, communities, and cultures in over 40 countries, creating emotionally driven visual stories for editorial publications, nonprofit organizations, commercial clients, and private commissions. Her work explores the intersection of human connection, identity, resilience, and everyday life through an observational approach rooted in trust and authenticity.

Before establishing her international career as a documentary photographer, Kirsten spent seven years as a magazine photojournalist, where she developed the storytelling instincts that continue to define her work today. Her photography has earned numerous honors, including First Place in Sports Feature Photography from the Virginia Press Association, and has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Rangefinder, SLR Lounge, Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, Eltern Magazin, and many others. Her clients have included Amazon Studios, the Joe Biden presidential campaign, and organizations spanning the nonprofit, commercial, and editorial sectors.

In 2025, Kirsten released UNSUPERVISED, a 15-year documentary project examining the complexity, humor, and vulnerability of modern family life. The work has been recognized internationally for its unfiltered portrayal of parenthood and relationships.

Education has remained central to Kirsten's career. Since earning her degree in Child Psychology with a concentration in Learning and Cognition and a minor in Fine Art from Virginia Commonwealth University, she has taught in public schools, presented more than 80 keynote addresses and workshops worldwide, and mentored thousands of photographers through CreativeLive, Craftsy, Foundation Workshops, Documentary Family Retreats, the Dallas Center of Photography, international photography conferences, and private educational programs. Her three CreativeLive courses have reached more than one million viewers worldwide.

Kirsten's teaching helped popularize documentary family photography as a contemporary commercial genre, inspiring photographers around the world to embrace unscripted visual storytelling as an alternative to traditional portraiture. She is the co-founder of Documentary Family Awards and continues to advocate for authentic storytelling across editorial, commercial, and personal photography.

She serves as a brand ambassador for Pixellu, ShootProof, The Image Salon, HoneyBook, and Think Tank Photo, and is available worldwide for editorial assignments, commercial commissions, speaking engagements, and documentary projects.