The Western Publications Association has honored PhotoMedia magazine with a 2011 Maggie Award in the category of Best Single Editorial Photograph in a Trade Magazine.

The winning photo, of an anglerfish, was taken by Mark Laita and accompanied a profile on him in the Fall 2010 issue of...

Location: Holthusen lives in San Francisco but was born in Reno, Nev.

Website: markholthusen.com

Major clients: SanDisk, HBO, Kohler, Qwest Communications, Chick Fil-A, Cleveland Ballet, Roger Waters, Honda, Target, Microsoft, Sony Music, Pottery Barn, Starbucks, Banana Republic, Adobe, Marie Callender’s, Toyota and others...

Mixing the disciplines of photography, painting and sculpture, this Bay Area commercial artist creates breathtaking composites that have made him the hit of the advertising world.

You’ve probably seen his work. Perhaps you’ve admired the undulating, morph-ing landscapes he’s created for Asian automobile ads: The writhing, shifting trees in the background at first look like the snakes of Medusa, but a closer examination reveals that they’re made of people. In another, a large white moon floats above a vehicle, but the orb is actually composed of globs of bodies. The ads are strange yet fascinating. 

Or maybe you’ve stumbled upon his images in Communication Arts, Graphis, American Photography or Photo District News. His work is everywhere, and no wonder: The studio photography of Mark Holthusen is an unusual combination of straight photography, miniature model making and Photoshop, a blend that gives his work an eerie, painterly quality. He’s hot, he’s in demand and he’s dominating a new niche of photography in an ever-more crowded digital world.

Made famous by his work in National Geographic and Fortune, Psihoyos also is known for his elaborate photo shoots and for creating images that stnad the test of time.

The scene is brief but deeply unsettling. Footage from a stationary underwater movie camera in the coastal shallows shows typical marine life undulating gently with the waves. Then the view slowly darkens from above, as if a cloud is passing over. The colors begin to change, from greenish blue to a milky pink, then quickly to an alarming blood red that fills the entire field of view. Off-screen, wails and screeching can be heard.

Sadly, this scene is not from some fictional aquatic horror film...

The current hyperactive state of national politics may seem like an unsolvable puzzle to many pundits. This image by commercial photographer Philip Chudy takes this idea to new extremes.

Shot about four or five years ago for a Hasbro advertisement, the image depicts one of the series of Puzz 3D puzzles that can be assembled into models of the world’s most famous buildings.

Like a puzzle, this playful scene is really constructed of many smaller images, which were taken with both DSLR and medium-format cameras and stitched together digitally. The puzzle, the hand models, the camera, the family and the people in the background were all shot separately in a New York...

As DSLR resolution approaches its limit, many photographers are seeking an edge by reviving this heavier, slower format.

A camera is a doorway between the lens and a recording medium, be it film, digital sensor or anything else recording light. A view camera is nothing more than a frame on which one hangs a lens and attaches a digital back. This is the essence; all else are merely features.

The following camera systems all deliver standard-setting resolution. Deciding on...

Once thought outdated, medium format is enjoying a resurgence in the quest for higher resolution.

In a rapidly evolving market, pro photographers seek competitive advantages and ways to add value for the client. If your images look sharper and richer than the other guy’s, you will tend to get the sale.

Camera makers have responded by adding megapixels for higher resolution...

2010 International  Conservation Photography Awards Gallery

After a successful three-month run, the 2010 International Conservation Photography (ICP) Awards ended in early September at the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture in Seattle. The stunning 2010 exhibit, which drew appreciative crowds, showed off this year’s winning images from the program begun in 1997 by renowned nature photographer and Seattle native Art Wolfe. The Burke’s participation represents a major milestone in the evolution of the biennial ICP Awards program.

Studio locations:  “I have a studio in Los Angeles as well as New York,”  Laita says. “I’m back and forth so often that sometimes I forget which city I’m in.”

Representation:  Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles. Visit marklaita.com

Books:  “Created Equal” (2010). Another is scheduled to be published by the end of 2011...

In an age of digital wizardry and pixel manipulation, studio photographer Mark Laita still makes precise commercial images with the “old school” methods of perfect lighting and an unerring eye.

In an age of digital wizardry and pixel manipulation, studio photographer Mark Laita still makes precise commercial images with the “old school” methods of perfect lighting and an unerring eye.
Los Angeles-based still-life photographer Mark Laita is, oddly enough, significantly influenced by tennis champ John McEnroe. In addition to believing that McEnroe could have won any and every match he played with any kind of racket, or even a garden rake — “Art is not about the tools,” Laita says, “but about what you do with them” — he credits McEnroe with an idea that has guided Laita’s own personal and professional life.