On April 20, I had the opportunity to put PhotoMedia's 13 years and my publishing career in perspective when I attended the 50th annual Maggie Awards for publishing excellence in Los Angeles. Last year, PhotoMedia won one of these prestigious statues in the Best Interview or Profile in a Trade Publication category, but I was unable to attend and receive the award in person, as the event's schedule conflicted with production deadlines on our Spring 2000 issue. This year, when we got the word that we had been named a finalist in two categories - including the same category as last year and also Best Overall Design in a Trade Publication...

One glance at the recent studio work of Marianne McCoy tells you she is in touch with the language of dreams - sometimes literally.

"The night before the shoot, I had a dream about that image," McCoy said of the nude study titled "Twisting". "I just saw a figure slowly twisting back and forth. I didn't really know why I saw it, but I wanted to capture it."

Such dream realization is a relatively common occurrence with McCoy since she began shooting studio portraits two years ago. By using long exposures, soft focus and a lot of natural light, McCoy, a self-proclaimed "old soul," tries to create an old-fashioned, dreamy look...

The Photo Review National Photography Competition for 2000 garnered almost 3,300 images from 812 domestic and international entrants, leaving juror and noted photographer William Wegman the task of selecting 96 images as competition winners.

Seattle photographer and color photography teacher Carla Fraga was juried with her "Badlands, South Dakota" entry. Mercer Island photographer and instructor Nancy LeVine won fourth prize with her photo titled "They Have Not Entirely Put Away Their Wildness, Their Animal Desire to Let Wind Flow Through Them." Seattle photographer and instructor David D. Johnson also was recognized for his "Can't See The Forest" entry.

Seattle-based photographer, Kevin Schafer, recently returned from the Falkland Islands, where he produced original photography for Falklands Conservation, a group working to protect these remote wildlife islands. He has also been asked to be one of the artistic contributors to Watershed Art, a 2001 project to document the Wenatchee River watershed in Eastern Washington.

Seattle-based photographer Wolfgang Kaehler recently returned from a six-day photo shoot in Yellowstone National Park, where he documented the use of snowmobiles in the park, including a new, environmentally friendly four-cynlinder model. Kaehler also has an upcoming trip through Asia planned and will be visiting Esfahan, Shiraz, and Persepolis, Iran; Rangoon and Pagan, Burma; Borobudur, Indonesia; Angkor, Cambodia; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; the Silk Road of Turfan, China; Jerash, Jordan; and Damascus and Palmyra, Syria.