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Books: “Rainforests: Lifebelt for an Endangered Planet.” Working on an upcoming monograph.

Recent awards: The Prince’s Rainforests Project Award (2009), ILCP Photographer of the Month (February 2010), ABC News Person of the Week (November 2009), Global Vision Award from the Pictures of the Year International Competition (2008), World Press Photo award-winning images (2006, 2007).

Preferred equipment: Canon 5D Mark II (“Smaller cameras are nice,” Beltrá says). Lenses: 24-70mm f/2.8 L, 500mm f/4 L and 24mm f/2.8 TSE. Mac computers. Think Tank roller bags...

In what owner Roy Robinson calls a refocusing of the company's business lines, ProLab is closing its consumer-oriented Retail, ProZone and Portrait divisions to focus exclusively on commercial, large-format point-of-sale graphics. The retail photo-processing industry has declined substantially because amateur photographers now print at home or get prints from Wal-Mart or Costco, noted Robinson, in explaining the decision.

The company's commercial division, ProLab West, provides image manipulation, prepress, printing, kitting and distributing of large-format digital images to clients such as Restoration Hardware, Smith & Hawken, Tommy Bahama, Costco, Hannah Andersson and Storables.

Although the commercial division will remain at ProLab's headquarters in Seattle, the ProZone, consumer retail and portrait sales counters at that location have been closed. Approximately 25 employees...

Ivey Imaging, based in Seattle, has acquired the assets of Southern California Screen Printing, including a specially designed 37,000-square-foot production facility and a broad range of technology and equipment. Ivey also recently established a sales office in Los Angeles.

Southern California Screen Printing, founded in Fontana, Calif.,in 1987, includes among its clients such companies as 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Kroger and Imax.

Rich Ayres, owner of SoCal, will continue with the company as vice president of business development.

Seattle-based OnRequest Images has launched a new service to provide customers with broader choices about their involvement in the image production process. Custom Assignment Services allows customers to select photographers and direct photo shoots, just as they would with regular assignment photography.

Trade associations, such as the Professional Photographers of America, American Society of Media Photographers and Stock Artists Alliance, are cautious about the new service. Representatives of the groups have expressed concern about spec assignments, fees, royalties and copyright issues.

The Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) held its 12th annual meeting April 29 through May 1 in Seattle. Attendance was the highest in five years, with more than 140 attendees, including representatives from seven new stock libraries. At the event, member emeritus Jane Kinne was presented with PACA's first Lifetime Achievement Award for her more than 50 years of service to the industry.

Among the topics were the ever-changing stock photography landscape, discussed by James Alexander of Adobe; the pros and cons of digital picture editing, presented by a panel of stock agency experts; and searching for stock pictures in the digital era, discussed by a panel moderated by Debbie Campbell of Seattle-based Tip Top Creative. Breakout sessions covered subjects such as...

In collaboration with Getty Images and photographer Nicholas Prior, FareStart has designed a project to depict the realities of homelessness in the Seattle area. The project, "Home," was unveiled April 14 at the Henry Art Gallery with a talk by Prior about the ethics of photographing subjects in despair, as well as the privileges and responsibilities of having a home.

After its debut at the Henry, the exhibit will travel to galleries, companies and organizations in the Seattle area through March 2006. Putting "Home" on display in multiple venues around Seattle is intended to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the city's homeless population and to publicize FareStart, a job-training and placement program for homeless men, women and youth in the Seattle area.

FareStart is in the final year of its $8 million Futures Rising capital campaign, having purchased a new facility at 7th and Westlake avenues in July 2004. The new facility will allow FareStart to double the number of homeless individuals...

The Seattle chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored freelance writer Beth Luce at an awards ceremony earlier this year. Luce, who contributes regularly to PhotoMedia was awarded third place for her story on PhotoMedia's Photography Person of the Year, "Gary Braasch: Thinking Globally" (Spring 2002). Other recent credits include two cover stories for Seattle magazine and articles for several regional magazines and university magazines across the country.

As it does once every two years, our editorial focus this issue returns to studio photography. As we researched stories focusing on individuals and the industry, it became clear that these photographers, regardless of their specialty, have one thing in common: They make photos rather than just take them.

The photographers we present in these pages are masters of premeditation with an obsession for detail. From concepts to completion, they use time-tested skills as a foundation for cutting-edge lighting, exposure and post-production techniques. Without exception, they inventively capture their clients' desires on film, and often deliver much, much more.

Our thanks to all the featured photographers (and their staffs) who cheerfully cooperated in presenting their work...

It's not a statement you might expect to hear from a successful businesswoman and arts supporter. But "unexpected" is sort of what Marita Holdaway is all about. With her upbeat, energetic patter and infectious laugh, it's not difficult to picture Holdaway on stage riffing her way through a stand-up routine. In fact, it's easy to imagine her accomplishing just about anything. What Holdaway has accomplished—a reputation for being unusually artist-supportive—is no laughing matter.

Positioned smack in the bustle and noise of First Avenue in downtown Seattle, close enough to bite the ankles of the Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man, Holdaway's Benham Gallery...