I found myself amid the dunes of the southern Sahara, surrounded by men cradling AK-47s. They lit cigarettes, backs turned against the abrasive desert wind. It was getting dark. I asked myself, "How did I get here?"
It was my own fault. I was in Mali last year shooting an episode for the second season of my public television show, "Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge," with my crew of three. The men with the firepower were in my employ, thank goodness, hired to guard against bandits who prey on travelers.

The show is just one component of my strategy to recast my business in the face of the collapse of stock photography, a once-thriving enterprise that has been eroded...