A look at a professional who reached the top of his industry before switching gears to lead a new life behind a camera lens.

One of the most successful examples of the dual-career trend is Bill Atkinson, a businessman and photographer.

"When I was 10 years old, my mother gave me a subscription to Arizona Highways magazine," Atkinson recalls. "I cut out several nature photographs and displayed them on my bedroom walls. I found that each day I viewed them, I felt nourished and inspired."

Those photographs inspired a lifelong passion for photography, even though Atkinson has had an illustrious business career.

He was one of the architects of many of Apple Computer's early software products. During the 1980s, he was the main designer for the Lisa computer, which preceded the Macintosh, and he wrote the MacPaint and QuickDraw graphics primitives on which every Macintosh system was built...

With his training psychology, wedding photographer Joe Buissink knows how to put nervous couples at ease, making him a popular choice on the high-end wedding circuit.

What do Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Hilary Swank and Christina Aguilera have in common? Aside from being beautiful, rich and famous, all have been captured by the insightful lens of Joe Buissink, wedding photographer to the "A-list" crowd.

In a little more than a decade, Buissink has become one of the foremost wedding photographers in the industry. Named one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world by American Photo, and voted one of the top five by the BBC in 2003, Buissink has also received the International Leadership Award in photography from the International Photographic Council at the United Nations. Why Joe? His name kept coming up based upon a consensus of opinions from Photo District News, WPPI, PPA and other renowned photographic organizations.

How did this not-so-average Joe achieve such acclaim...

When Seattle-based photographers Michele Westmorland and Karen Huntt set foot in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, they noticed something strange.

"This white dog ran past me, looking at first like he was covered in blood," says Huntt. "I was a bit alarmed and turned to walk after him when it dawned on me that the reason he had big red stains all over him was from people spitting betel-nut juice all over him. People weren't spitting at him on purpose — there's just so much spitting going on that the poor hound had crossed paths with a few too many chewers."

This first encounter with copious amounts...

"I wanted this to be a series of hero stories," says Phil Borges, author of "Women Empowered." His new book of portraits celebrates the contributions of women from developing nations who are playing a significant role in executing lasting social change.

"I consider these women on the vanguard of a global shift to bring feminine power back into the human experience," he says. "It's a slow shift that's happening right now. These are the unsung and unknown heroes on the vanguard of that movement."

Partnering with the organization CARE, Borges' "Women Empowered" builds upon the humanity, character and purpose of his previous works. His books "Enduring Spirit" and "Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion" effectively raised awareness about the issues faced by people in the developing world...

The software giant gets serious about catering to professional photographers with a new web site and a host of advanced image processing tools for Windows.

Although many creative types consider the Apple Macintosh to be the platform of choice for serious graphics work, most working photographers out there still are wedded to their Microsoft Windows-based systems for image processing and management, as well as for running their businesses. However, market dominance has not stopped Microsoft from continuously working to optimize Windows (both the current XP version and the forthcoming Vista) in order to meet the needs of today's digitally focused pro shooters.

For Microsoft, digital photography really came of age in 2003, when sales of digital cameras began to outpace those of film cameras. The company decided it needed to do more to meet the growing...

Made famous by his work in National Geographic, Psihoyos also is known for his elaborate photo shoots and for creating images that stand the test of time.

"Iconic" is one of Louie Psihoyos' favorite watchwords. Not to be confused with "ironic," even though he might find that slip of the tongue agreeably appropriate when it comes to some of his more memorable portraits or pictorial vignettes. Pretty much every Psihoyos image, however, is memorable in some way, and many of them have, indeed, become photographic icons since he began his career more than three decades ago.

Psihoyos (drop the "P" and think "sequoias") is among that lucky breed of professionals who have found truth in the maxim, "Do what you love and the money will follow." The 47-year-old photographer lives in Boulder, Colo., and enjoys a thriving income from stock images accumulated through a huge backlog of assignments and visual...

Excerpts from a lively Q&A session at last year's PhotoPlus Expo, in which photographers talked directly with agents.

The discussion covered such issues as current stock pricing structures, submission guidelines, revenue percentage splits, diversification, new image marketing models and international emerging economies. Here are some highlights from the lively Q&A session...

An uncluttered style and a willingness to work closely with his famous subjects has made Greg Gorman one of the most in-demand celebrity portraitist in the business.

The actor leans against a cement wall. He tosses back his shoulder-length hair and lets out a yell. He crouches on the ground and glares. Next, he is doing a handstand. With every movement, a camera shutter clicks.

It's 1994, and a relative newcomer on the Hollywood scene named Antonio Banderas is cavorting shirtless around a Los Angeles rooftop for celebrity photographer Greg Gorman. A few hours earlier, they were downstairs in Gorman's studio, shooting some poster stills for one of Banderas' upcoming movies. But neither of them was satisfied....

In his new book, actor Jeff Bridges uses wide-angle photography to show us the "nuts and bolts of fantasy" behind the scenes of his many films.

Actor Jeff Bridges, a four-time Academy Award nominee (The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman and The Contender) and recent Golden Globe nominee (Seabiscuit), has managed such a feat simply by documenting the world around him, scene by scene, location by location.

As the son of actor Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges has been immersed in the fantasy-like world of Hollywood films and studio sets his entire life. Together with older brother and fellow actor Beau Bridges, he grew up fascinated by the intricacies of film, both still and moving.

In Bridges' latest photography book, Pictures, released by powerHouse Books in...

Most people know musician Graham Nash through his folk-rock days with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Fewer people know of his first passion: still photography.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash will gladly tell you that he was a photographer first, a musician second. Strange words from a man who already was playing in his first rock band by age 13.

Nash, a founding member of the English pop/rock band The Hollies and later of Crosby, Stills & Nash, is one of those rare musicians who have maintained a loyal following for more than 40 years. As a solo artist and in ongoing projects with his former bandmates, Nash continues to record, tour and play to sold-out crowds who shout out requests for everything from "Marakesh Express" to "Our House" to...