Known mostly for commercial photography, Jim Erickson is now showing his more artistic side with two new books based on potraits of people near his San Francisco Home.

"I love pictures that touch the human spirit," says photographer Jim Erickson, quietly. He returns to this theme again and again. "I like landscapes, but I truly love pictures about people and who they are—pictures that capture what they’re feeling."

Erickson provides the photography world with a positive role model, combining talent, passion, style, heart and mind. He has created a successful business while at the same time unleashing timeless art forms that speak to our inner human commonality.

"Artists are caretakers of the soul," he says...

On the Cover: Created for a computer company ad, Jim Erickson's "Leap of Faith" is a composite of four separate shots of the sky, rocks, background and jumping model. While his commercial images are often highly manipulated, many of his fine-art shots rely on straight photography that show the hand of the artist.

Wedding and nature photographer Scott Bourneis is changing the industry landscape

If you’ve never heard of Scott Bourne, prepare to meet the future of wedding photography. Something old, something new, he’s faintly blue from the glow of web servers he manages in his clock tower studio high above downtown Tacoma, Wash.

Over the next few months, the fine-art landscape photographer and...

How executive portrait photographers master the five-minute photo-op.

Digital technology is accelerating the means of delivering images to eyeballs, but the world’s hunger for news about people, and fresh portraits of them, will never be satisfied. So says Seattle-based photographer David Perry, who specializes in what he calls location people scenarios for annual reports and magazines.

"We have become image junkies as a society, " says Perry. As a result, he see...

The Slot Canyons, this issue's Destination, actually straddle the border of Colorado Arizona and Utah. Shirley Simon-Glaze shot this month's placid cover photo near the Slots. Seattle photographer David Perry, featured in our Executive Portraits story, traveled to China's Great Wall for a cellular photo company.

Karen Moskowitz uses intense colors to light the inner moods of her subjects

Proofs of models, rock stars, dot.com CEOs, and a Denver-to-L.A. airplane ticket stub clutter the light table of Karen Moskowitz this Saturday morning as she sips black coffee in her downtown Seattle loft studio.

In the 5,000-square-foot space she’s both lived and worked in since 1990, she’s using a rare quiet moment in mid-December to take stock of one of the busiest years of her life...

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...