A look at a professional who reached the top of his industry before switching gears to lead a new life behind a camera lens.

When he was first introduced to photography, taking a picture was something just short of miraculous to Jim Dines. "As a child, I was fascinated that I could reproduce an image," he says. This philosophy made him see each photograph as a one-of-a-kind slice of life.

Dines grew up in picturesque San Francisco and started out thinking of photography as his first career choice. "I had a hard time making money at it, so I had to develop a new career," he says. "If there were enough money in it, I would have been a full-time photographer."

Instead, he developed a very successful career as a financial analyst. He still publishes a financial newsletter, The Dines Letter, but his love...