Associate editor Chris Johns has been appointed editor in chief of National Geographic magazine, succeeding William L. Allen, who retired at the end of the year. Johns, whose photographs began appearing in the magazine in 1985, is the ninth full-time editor in the society's 116-year history.

Johns began making changes almost immediately, combining the photography and illustration departments. Dennis Dimick, illustration editor, will head the new department and has been named associate editor for illustrations. The director of photography position was eliminated; Kent Kobersteen, who had held that title since 1998, left the magazine...

Josef Scaylea, one of the Seattle Times’ most recognized photographers, died on July 20 of natural causes, at the age of 91.

The son of Italian immigrants, Scaylea was born Josef Scaglia on a Connecticut farm in 1913. He attended a photography school in New York, then put his newly-polished skills to work in corporate and trade publications. After serving as an army photographer in the Pacific during World War II, he settled in Seattle. He was hired by the Seattle Times and spent the next 35 years...

Francesco Scavullo died on Jan. 6, at the age of 82. Scavullo was known for enamel on canvas photo silkscreens, portraits and still lifes. One of the dominant photographic influences on American fashion, he photographed the covers of Cosmopolitan for 30 years.

His celebrity photographs also appeared on the covers of Rolling Stone, Life...