Home and Studio: San Francisco, with a month and a half spent in Norway each year (erikalmas.com).

Selected Clients: Nike, Puma, Pfizer, Neutrogena, Hyatt, Waldorf, Citibank, Toyota, Lantus, Advair, U.S. Postal Service, Adobe, Amtrak, Brides magazine, Golf Pride, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Bristol Myers, Sorel.

Personal Projects: A continuing series of nudes, a series of "Falling Women" images that came from a dream, and working with a series of storytelling images based on books such as Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."

Website: erikalmas.com

With a passion for travel, Erik Almas expands the boundaries of the typical studio photographer, often including sweeping landscape elements in his commercial images.

It's December, and Erik Almas is a long way from home. For most of his life, Almas called Norway home; now San Francisco claims that honor, but at this moment, Almas is learning to scuba dive in Hawai'i for an underwater shoot. His voice is giddy with excitement. "I'm living my dream," he says. "This is amazing."

When talking with Almas, the word "amazing" comes up a lot. His career is...