Home & Office: Los Osos, Calif.

Stock agencies: Corbis, Getty, Photo Researchers, AgStock.

Favorite equipment: The Canon EOS 1Ds camera. Also, Singh Ray's new Vari-X neutral-density filter. "It allows a variable ND filter to 10 stops," Lepp says. "I use it for long exposures on water and where I want a long exposure to make moving people and cars disappear."

Favorite place to shoot: Mono Lake, in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

Website: georgelepp.com

Home: Los Angeles and Mendocino, Calif.

Fine-Art representation: Fahey/Klein Gallery, L.A.

Favorite subjects: Bette Midler, Djimon Hounsou, Bette Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio and actor/model Tony Ward. "I like working with those who are willing to experiment; those who will take chances and be creative, regardless of other people's expectations."

Advice to new photographers: "A lot of kids today are not clear on the importance of establishing an identity," he says. "They keep varying their imagery and style according to the flavor of the month. Develop and showcase your own style, and get an assignment that reflects where you want to go. Don't be afraid to be original."

Website: gormanphotography.com

Home: Scottsdale, Ariz.

Equipment: Nikon F3 and F4s; 11 lenses from 20 to 300mm; Nikon SB-25 flashes; and Gitzo tripods. For landscapes, architecture and sometimes festivals, Hebberd is fond of her Fuji GX-617 large-format panoramic camera. She also uses a Toshiba laptop for satellite links and a CD burner.

Other projects: Besides her book projects and stock sales on her website (culturalportraits.com), Hebberd does assignment work, sells custom photos and has worked on collaborative efforts, such as "A Day in the Life of Thailand" and "Thailand: Seven Days in the Kingdom." She also conducts educational workshops — in India, the U.S. and other countries — that encourage children to study her photographs and captions, and create original artwork inspired by what they have learned.

Website: culturalportraits.com

Galleries at REI stores: Seattle - 222 Yale Avenue North, 206-223-1944; Federal Way, Wash. - 2565 South Gateway Center Place, 253-941-4994; Denver - 1416 Platte Street, 720-855-7887.

Favorite gear: "Canon is the only 35mm I use," Wolfe says, "which was really very appropriate for most of this work because I was dealing in ephemeral moments." He also uses a Pentax 6x7, a Fuji 6x17 panoramic, a Hasselblad panoramic and a couple of Mamiyas. "I almost exclusively use tripods because I like to deliver a very tack-sharp image."

Home: Sebastopol, Calif.

Photographic equipment: A 6-megapixel Kodak 760 — based on a 35mm Nikon body — that replaced his Kodak 560. "I just purchased a Kodak 645 Pro Back and Mamiya 645 system that is taking the place of my medium format film cameras," Bybee says. "I have a drum scanner — and have had for a long time — for film. Most of my files are on film, but in the last couple of years I've switched over to do as much as I can digitally. I'm trying to go 100 percent digital capture now."

Advice for aspiring studio shooters: "Follow your passion and instincts," he says. "Work harder than your competition if you have to. Be a constant observer of light. Your ability to see and record light will ultimately set you apart and define your style."

Website: bybee.com

Other Gear: "We have picked up a lot of small tripods; a variety of Gitzo ball heads," says Rozinski, who generally prefers Bogen. "We haven't gone to graphite at this point, because we are still strong enough to carry the other ones. I like the flexibility of the tripods we have, and we will sacrifice weight sometimes for something more flexible in the field." For transportation, they use an old Toyota Land Cruiser and a new Toyota pickup. "We are very adept at photographing from the vehicles," he says. "We have a scrap aluminum place near us, and we have conjured up some door and floor mounts that are so strong, you can tip the car over with one of them."

Advice to aspiring nature photographers: "If you enjoy it, don't do it for a living," Shattil warns. "Do it in a manner so that you can do what you want, when you want. Learn as much as you can about the animals. Spend as much time as you can with the animals. Look at others' pictures. You can't copy what someone else created, but something can stick in your mind. And perhaps if you are lucky, you can get that on film."

Website: dancingpelican.com

Home: San Francisco, Calif.

Studio: Petaluma, Calif.

Gear: To Erickson, photo equipment only gets better with age. Along with an old, well-worn Canon F1, he normally uses standard lenses, preferably made before 1960, that...

Studio: An expansive 12,000-square-foot remodeled lumber mill in an industrial area of San Francisco

Recent subjects: Lexus, Infiity, BMW. "In the technology world, we've done everything from Sony Playstation to Apple to Microsoft."

Best advice to aspiring photographers: "The most difficult thing for a new photographer to do is to find his or her own voice. Imitating other photographers necessarily puts them behind the curve. You need to think and create your own great ideas, and have the technique be the second thing. "When all is said and done and the year's work, or decade's work, is looked back on, the things that rise to the top are the great ideas you had, not the great techniques. That's a very difficult thing for a young photographer to grasp. Most of the time that comes not from a lack of talent, but a fear that their own voice will not be accepted. That's something you have to get over."

Website: rjmuna.com...