Shanra Kehl attended college at Montana State University to study photography. She soon realized that stills were not enough and she wanted to purse both photography and cinematography. After a couple of years of studying both, she transferred to Columbia College Chicago to purse a concentration in Cinematography. At Columbia, she produced and shot a 35mm short film, Paradise Lounge, which won over a dozen film festivals around the world. In March of 2002, she was a camera intern on "Identity" under cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, A.S.C. In the time following her internship, she has worked and continues to work in the independent film industry on features, short films and documentaries.