Home: San Francisco, Calif.

Studio: Petaluma, Calif.

Gear: To Erickson, photo equipment only gets better with age. Along with an old, well-worn Canon F1, he normally uses standard lenses, preferably made before 1960, that...

Studio: An expansive 12,000-square-foot remodeled lumber mill in an industrial area of San Francisco

Recent subjects: Lexus, Infiity, BMW. "In the technology world, we've done everything from Sony Playstation to Apple to Microsoft."

Best advice to aspiring photographers: "The most difficult thing for a new photographer to do is to find his or her own voice. Imitating other photographers necessarily puts them behind the curve. You need to think and create your own great ideas, and have the technique be the second thing. "When all is said and done and the year's work, or decade's work, is looked back on, the things that rise to the top are the great ideas you had, not the great techniques. That's a very difficult thing for a young photographer to grasp. Most of the time that comes not from a lack of talent, but a fear that their own voice will not be accepted. That's something you have to get over."

Website: rjmuna.com...

Home: Seattle

Favorite Gear: "I use Dyna-Lites, because I can travel with them," Karen Moskowitz says. "I use a Mamiya RZ. I don’t have a 35mm camera right now. It got stolen a couple of years ago, so now I just rent. I’m a big renter. I keep the minimum amount of gear, and rent stuff locally if I need extra firepower. I don’t use digital cameras. When speed is of the essence, I’ll scan my proof sheets and e-mail them to editors in New York. I’ve e-mailed high-res images to Germany for...

Home: San Francisco

Favorite Gear: "I’m not much of a gear hound," Ed Kashi says. "I use Leicas, a Minolta CLE with Leica lenses, and the Canon EOS-3.

Recent Assignments: California Department of Forests’ firefighters for Smithsonian Magazine; indigenous peoples living on Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines...