By devoting most of his career to warning the public about the consequences of global warming, Oregon-based wildlife and nature photographer Gary Braasch is trying not to change the world, but to help save it from changing too much.

One miserably cold day in late March, the evening news carried a chilling science story. In Antarctica — where apparently it wasn't quite cold enough — a 1,200-square-mile chunk of the Larsen ice shelf had shattered into 720 billion tons of crushed ice. The formerly Rhode-Island-sized ice shelf, which had taken only a month to break apart and fall into the ocean, had been frozen to Antarctica's jutting Palmer Peninsula for 12,000 years. An average temperature rise of...

Reid Callanan, founder and director of the Santa Fe Workshops, is the PhotoMedia Photography Person of the Year for 1999. An engraved sculpture is given annually to a member of the photography industry who has earned recognition for "exceptional artistic and business accomplishments, passion, devotion to the industry, inspiration to colleagues, and humanitarian achievements in the community."

PhotoMedia honors Callanan and the Santa Fe Workshops for educating thousands of photographers at all career stages, while promoting the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and support for the photographic community in New Mexico and worldwide.. Through his dedication to these principles, Callanan has been able to attract the highest caliber...

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...