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...

Through the use of interactive media and print-on-demand technology, Rick Smolan has pushed the limits of the photography book and brought the world closer together.

In the assignment photography world, the best in the business tend to thrive on pressure — the pressure of looming deadlines, tight travel schedules, difficult access, impossible working conditions, live ammunition. But all of these factors pale in comparison to the toughest challenge a photographer faces: lack of control.

In just his third assignment for Time magazine, a young Rick Smolan landed a color cover story on the famously intimidating opera conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1975. "I had never shot any color...

The founder of one of the nation's most prestigious photo workshops is helping aspiring photographers carry on her passion for socially concerned imagery.

Committed. Concerned. Caring. Those three C's pretty much sum up photographer Julia Dean, who not only has incorporated those elements into her life and work but also has strived to encourage other photographers to do so through her teaching.

"The thing that impresses me most about Julia is her desire to make a difference in people's lives," says longtime friend Reid Callanan, founder and director of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

This year, Dean, who established the prestigious Julia Dean Photo Workshops nearly a decade ago, is moving into high gear with her love of photography about...

For more than 30 years, David Hume Kennerly, former staff photographer for President Gerald R. Ford, has enjoyed unprecedented access to our nation’s leaders.

The night that Gerald Ford assumed the presidency, he approached David Hume Kennerly about being his personal photographer. "I didn't want to report to anybody but him," Kennerly stipulated, "and I wanted total access to everything that was going on."

"What?" replied Ford. "No use of Air Force One on the weekends?"

Sarcasm aside, the new president apparently respected Kennerly's ground rules because, the next day, Ford offered him the post. More than 30 years later, in October 2007, Kennerly is set to release his latest book, "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford" (University of Texas Press), a collection of Kennerly's photographs, along with comments from Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, former...

Best known for his award-winning advertising images and jazz portraits, is embarking on a quest to establish international image licensing standards for the good of all photographers.

Imagine a man in his mid-40s, with short, dark hair and a slight five-o'clock shadow, standing in the center of a life raft with a camera in one hand and a paddle in the other. This is a good visual metaphor for the work of Jeff Sedlik, award-winning photographer and industry mover and shaker. A rising tide lifts all boats, so the saying goes, and if Sedlik has his way, the photography tide is about to get higher. Besides maintaining a successful career as a high-level advertising photographer, he's dedicated to buoying the profession as a whole and teaching other photographers to navigate the rising waters...

Known mostly for his pioneering sports shooting, our Photography Person of the Year also has spent half a century as a photojournalist, an editor and a mentor for the next generation of aspiring photographers.

By his own admission, he's no athlete, but Rich Clarkson holds a sports record unlikely to be broken soon: he has just photographed his 50th NCAA college basketball championship. He shot his first back in 1952, and hasn't missed one since 1960. Along the way, Clarkson's pictures have helped redefine the way we look at sports.

The Final Four is just one facet of a remarkable career with roots reaching back to the 1940s and still running full-throttle today. At 72, Clarkson is a photography dynamo, busy with a demanding shooting and...

He’s one of the best nature shooters around, but he’s more than happy to give away his secrets to the next generation. For that, PhotoMedia salute Lepp with our Photography Person of the Year award.

Even as a little boy, George Lepp got into photography in a big way. As a sixth-grader, he lugged a 4x5 Crown Graphic around, making photos, line negatives and halftones for the school newspaper. "Why they had such a sophisticated paper in a middle school, I have no idea," he said in a recent phone interview. "But it was fun, and it got me out of doing...

The photographs of Natalie Fobes help to illustrate the forgotten stories of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Want to give back to the profession? How about creating a funding mechanism so that photographers can do valuable documentary work. Thinking about humanitarian goals? Perhaps you should self-fund a trip to show the ravages of a massive oil spill, or a native people's disappearing way of life. Did you recently resolve to do more good with your life? Take a lesson from Seattle photographer Natalie Fobes.

Photographing endangered environments and cultures, crafting multimedia educational projects and supporting other photographers in such efforts have earned Fobes the...