A block north of Seattle's Pike Place Market, on the stairs behind the narrow glass door of a little-known hotel called Pensione Nichols, sits a world traveler Richard I'Anson. Wearing a V-neck sweater and a five-o'clock shadow, the photographer is sipping herbal tea, waiting patiently in the fading golden light that streams through floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

I'Anson is nursing a case of laryngitis, caused by the 22 days of speeches he has just given...

The interaction with his subjects captivates Richard I'Anson, the lead photographer for guidebook publisher Lonely Planet, (featured in this issue's featured interview) who has written a new book on travel photography. On the cover, monks at the Sera Monastery in Tibet mug for his camera instead of paying attention to the debate they're attending. "It's the varied responses [of your subjects] that give character and personality to a collection of people pictures," says I'Anson.