A block north of Seattle's Pike Place Market, on the stairs behind the narrow glass door of a little-known hotel called Pensione Nichols, sits a world traveler Richard I'Anson. Wearing a V-neck sweater and a five-o'clock shadow, the photographer is sipping herbal tea, waiting patiently in the fading golden light that streams through floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

I'Anson is nursing a case of laryngitis, caused by the 22 days of speeches he has just given...

Travel photography is often perceived by the public as a glamorous profession in which the photographer has the opportunity to experience the world in an atmosphere of spontaneity, curiosity and adventure.

Many of us grew up with National Geographic, and the impressive and dramatic photographs of exotic cultures in distant locations no doubt inspired many to take photography more seriously, and perhaps even enter it as a profession...

The interaction with his subjects captivates Richard I'Anson, the lead photographer for guidebook publisher Lonely Planet, (featured in this issue's featured interview) who has written a new book on travel photography. On the cover, monks at the Sera Monastery in Tibet mug for his camera instead of paying attention to the debate they're attending. "It's the varied responses [of your subjects] that give character and personality to a collection of people pictures," says I'Anson.

Learning a bit of foreign language opens doors to photographing people.

Photography is an international language spoken by everyone, right? One picture being worth a thousand words, and all that entails. But sometimes understanding a photo is a whole lot easier than creating it, especially if you can't say a dang thing in the local tongue.

Imagine walking on a beautiful beach along the Mediterranean's famous Riviera. You spot the perfect couple frolicking in the light surf. Aim the camera and they start giving you a very bad time in French...

Restlessness and patience may seem like conflicting traits, but for Nevada Wier they are driving forces behind a successful travel photography career.

"I travel to have experiences, and the photography aspect heightens that, because the camera forces me to come in closer, become involved and notice what people are doing," says Wier. "I'm trying to capture on celluloid one instant or feeling or action or moment in their lives that has to be fairly poignant."

From a 1978 Nepal trek to a 1999 river expedition on the remote Blue Nile in Ethiopia, Wier has been journeying to obscure places and soaking...

Jeff Schultz, one of Iditarod's two official photographers, will mark his twentieth year chronicling the race when the dog sledding teams leave Anchorage next March. Originally a portrait and wedding photographer, he was swept up in Iditarod fever after shooting a portrait of the charismatic Joe Reddington Sr., a founder of the modern race who passed away last year.

That seed planted in Iditarod's early days has blossomed into an Alaska-focused career for Schultz, who now shoots editorial and corporate assignments and owns the the stock agency Alaska Stock Images at alaskastock.com. Schultz himself regularly shoots outdoor and adventure stock in addition to his annual coverage of Iditarod.

Much has changed since the race first reached Nome in 1973, and since 1981, when Schultz hired a pilot on his own first year on the trail, and "could only afford to fly the trail half way." More teams, more media, and more machinery have turned the Iditarod into...

Avid hiker Mike Albert grabbed this shot of a lonely trekker on the French alpine slopes of Mont Blanc three years ago while backpacking through Europe. Albert took the photo after riding a tram that takes hikers and tourists up the face of Mont Blanc, a massive glacier-encased mountain like Mount Rainier in Washington State, only higher at 15,771 feet.

About the tram ride, Albert says, "It's the only time I ever took the easy way out. It was a hot summer day. You wouldn't believe how many people were hiking that trail. Yet there was this one guy off by himself. I got this one shot...

Stuart and Michele Westmorland have been busy with multiple magazine assignments for Journey and Caribbean Travel & Life. These have included traveling to Barbados, St. Vincent and Mustique, plus shooting several Washington race driving schools and Let's Play Ball, a feature story on minor-league baseball. The 1999 Earth Day Invitational Exhibition awarded 1st and 2nd place to Stuart for two...