A Napa Valley photojournalist points out the world's inequalities through his lens.

Photojournalist Peter Menzel is passionate about what he views as the sorry state of American life, from "red-state" politics and war to junk food-based diets.

But he doesn't just gripe about it. He's successfully published five photography-based books, including "Material World: A Global Family Portrait" and "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats," to raise awareness of these issues...

Known mostly for his polished corporate studio work, this Seattle pro is finding wealth and happiness by focusing on the small, rough-edged details.

Doug Landreth has been a studio pro for 25 years, often specializing in large production projects in his big, flashy Seattle studio. Recently, however, he's gone small scale, photographing bugs and flowers and turning them into highly textured fine-art prints. Better still, he's making some money with this new work while striving to please only one person: himself.

If that sideline sounds like a prescription for happiness and satisfaction for a harried photo pro with high overhead, well, Landreth couldn't agree more.

Inspired by the textures he had seen and photographed during a trip to Mexico four years ago, he began compositing...

Location: Scottsdale, Ariz. Ross has a 300-square-foot studio in his home, for portraits and still-life photography.

Latest assignment: "Last year I did a number of books, or partial books, for Fodor's "Travel Guides,' including a month in Costa Rica."

Favorite assignment: "They're all great. I am living my dream life by traveling around the world and using my camera to meet peoples I would not otherwise talk to."

Advice for aspiring travel photographers: "Stay diverse. Shoot many subjects to pay for the bills, especially when you are starting out. Portraits, corporate, weddings, your neighbor's dog - whatever."

Website: kenrossphotography.com...

Travel shooter Ken Ross has been roaming the globe taking photographs since he was a kid in middle school. It's not that he was some sort of prodigy; his mother was a famous author who lectured worldwide.

"The only way to see Mom was to travel with her," Ross says. "Twice a year I got to go wherever she went, and so I grew up taking photos all over the world – in great places like Brazil, Japan, the Nile – from the age of 13 or 14."

Ross' mom was Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, world-renowned author of "On Death and Dying" (which outlined the now-ubiquitous "five stages of grief"), as well as scores...

Gallery locations: Denver and Breckenridge, Colo.

Favorite gear: The Linhof Master Technika 4 x 5 view camera and Fujichrome Velvia 100 film. "I used other field cameras while working my way up financially, and the Linhof Master Technika is the most durable for wilderness work, and the most flexible with movements," Fielder says. "I've destroyed several cameras, including Linhofs. The Master Technika is made of metal alloys, and it is the least destroyable field camera I've used..."

John Fielder's background in retail has helped him build a successful niche in high-quality local-interest calendars and books that show off his beloved Rocky Mountains.

It's one thing to take a photograph," says nature expert John Fielder, "but it is another thing, entirely, to sell it."

Colorado specialist Fielder excels at both of these difficult challenges. He's a seasoned and hardworking large-format nature and landscape photographer who runs a multifaceted business selling his work....

Studio locations: The Los Angeles area. Turning rents studios as needed, including motion-picture soundstages for her larger-scale projects. She once had her own shooting space, but it has been converted into a postproduction studio.

Favorite cameras: Hasselblad film cameras with Phase  One P 45 backs and Hasselblad H2 digital cameras. "I use large-format, up to 8x10, when it is called for and it suits the assignment," she says. "You can't beat the aesthetics of large format, working deliberately and slowly. That is close to my heart."

Photographic heroes/inspirations: Painters in a wide range of styles, from the Old Masters to pop art. "The best ones really teach you how to see and control light: Delacroix, Maxfield Parrish, Francisco Clemente," she says.

On being a woman in a male-dominated business: "To me, it's been a nonissue. My work speaks for itself."

Website: For more of her work and rep contacts, see turningpix.com.

The L.A. photographer's fantastic set designs and multiple exposures elevate even the most mundane subjects to heroic proportions.

Young Kate Turning's fantasy-fueled work was a bit too fashion-forward for the U.S. market in the late 1980s.

In those days, Turning was working as a newly minted photographer in the fantasy-friendly pop music industry, and her work was selling well. But she didn't want to be limited to record packages, promo shots and posters.

To move on to the big leagues, the studio specialist needed to take a daring step. "I had to leave America to truly find my voice," Turning explains from her Los Angeles studio, where she is enjoying a brief pause before jetting off on another assignment.

"It is very important to develop a personal style" in order to succeed in the hyper-competitive world...

His spooky, brooding images sometimes scare people, but this Los Angeles photographer has become one of the most in-dmand portraitist of A-list stars.

Frank Ockenfels had a problem early on in his career. His unusual work, with an emphasis on spooky, dark images, scared some people.

It was a real issue: For some time, he actually had trouble getting assignments to photograph women. "It was a label I had for years," says the upbeat and forthright Ockenfels. "My work was seen as too moody, too much toward the dark side of photography."

Working the dark end of the street was a deliberate decision on his part, one born of necessity. "I had no choice but to take this stand in the first five years," he explains. "Everything I did was a 15-minute shoot, no matter how much time I was promised."

Being limited to 15 minutes wasn't the end of it. The bigger the subject, the harder it often was to get their cooperation, even under the lights...

Studio location and staff: Santa Fe, N.M. His wife, Joy Fitzharris, is his office manager. He also employs a computer systems manager and an image librarian.

Latest projects: Fitzharris' new coffee-table book of landscape photos, "Seasons Across America," from Firefly Books, will debut in 2010. He is also planning another book, tentatively called "Hummingbirds of the World."

Advice to aspiring nature photographers: "Think long term and build a solid collection. I'm still selling pics I took 25 years ago," he says. "Also, anticipate the movement or behavior of your [wildlife] subject; get into position for the best light, background and angle on the action. Then wait for it to happen."

Website: timfitzharris.com