Home: Scottsdale, Ariz.

Staff: She hires various professional assistants for individual projects.

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.

Greatest influences: Her parents; the Dalai Lama (whom she has met several times); Nelson Mandela (whom she has also met).

Clients: Air India, Bank of America, Fuji Film, General Electric, Infosys Technologies, Mobil Oil, Monsanto, Oberoi Hotels, Singapore Airlines, Encyclopedia Brittanica, Fodor's, Geographic Expeditions, HarperCollins, Oxford University Press, St. Martins Press, the World Book and many others. Her work has appeared in Discovery, GEO and National Geographic magazines. She also has produced images for the United Nations and the governments of India and Indonesia.

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.

Future projects: Vietnam, Turkey, maybe Mexico. She also is considering writing a book of her personal stories.

Advice to aspiring travel photographers: "Treat everybody with respect. Don't have an ethnocentric, ‘us-them' attitude. It's important to show consideration, respect and appreciation for people. The more you can interact with people and tell their story, the better your photos will be."

Website: culturalportraits.com