The 10-year-old back-and-forth copyright infringement dispute between the National Geographic Society (NGS) and photographer Jerry Greenberg has taken yet another turn. In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals said it will reconsider its June 2007 decision to vacate a jury award in favor of Greenberg.

Greenberg originally sued NGS in 1997, claiming that the publisher used his images on a CD-ROM compilation without his permission. Her contended that the CD-ROM was not a revision of past work but a new product. NGS countered that the CD was legitimate because it was a compilation of all...

Mountain Light and the Sierra Club honor the memory of the legendary photographer with a 287-page retrospective book.

For many armchair explorers around the world, Galen Rowell has provided a unique and unadulterated glimpse of Alaska, Tibet, Yosemite, Patagonia and many other places in between. No other photographer in the last century has been as prolific and proficient in documenting his expeditions, often in some of the most inaccessible and inhospitable environments in the world.

Rowell collaborated with the Sierra Club and National Geographic on projects that took him from the peaks of the Himalayas to the wild seas surrounding Antarctica. Through his awe-inspiring photography and prose, he single-handedly raised...

Thomas J. Abercrombie, a photographer for National Geographic for nearly 40 years, died April 3 of complications from open-heart surgery at the age of 75.

Abercrombie was born in Stillwater, Minn., in 1930. In addition to taking photographs on seven continents, he was the first journalist to reach the South Pole in 1957, one year after joining the National Geographic staff.

Abercrombie was the first person to win both the Newspaper Photographer of the Year (1954) and the Magazine Photographer of the Year (1959) awards. After retiring from National Geographic...

The October 2004 issue of National Geographic features Frans Lanting’s coverage of Hawaii’s volcanoes. Lanting also has included his image collection on his website, lanting.com. The images, which cover landscapes, wildlife, people and environmental issues from around the world, can be browsed and licensed online for editorial and commercial use.

Associate editor Chris Johns has been appointed editor in chief of National Geographic magazine, succeeding William L. Allen, who retired at the end of the year. Johns, whose photographs began appearing in the magazine in 1985, is the ninth full-time editor in the society's 116-year history.

Johns began making changes almost immediately, combining the photography and illustration departments. Dennis Dimick, illustration editor, will head the new department and has been named associate editor for illustrations. The director of photography position was eliminated; Kent Kobersteen, who had held that title since 1998, left the magazine...

Craig Aurness, known for his work in National Geographic, died Dec. 14, 2004, in Panorama City, Calif. Aurness had been undergoing treatment for lung and anemia complications. He was 58.

The adopted son of James Arness, Aurness grew up on a ranch in Southern California. In the 1970s, he apprenticed with Look magazine photographer Earl Tyson. His first assignment for National Geographic was published in 1978, and he...

Chris Rainier recently released his latest book, Ancient Marks, which documents traditional tribal tattooing around the globe. Images from the book were displayed this summer on the photo screen in New York City’s Times Square. Rainier’s portfolio also was included in the October 2004 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Rainier, who specializes in documenting indigenous cultures, is a codirector of the Culture Initiative and...

The National Geographic Society has named five photographers to its recently established program to showcase and support the work of preeminent freelance photojournalists who have contributed outstanding work to the society over the years. The first Contributing Photographers-in-Residence for the society are Sam Abell, David Doubilet, Karen Kasumauski, Emory Kristof, and Frans Lanting. Lanting, who has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time, currently makes his home in...

Kristen Imig, a new Seattle resident, was awarded first prize in National Geographic Traveler’s “What Makes America Special?” photo contest. Imig’s entry was a black-and-white medium-format image of an Independence Day parade in Stony Brook, N.Y., on Long Island. Imig’s prize was a 13-day safari for two through southern Africa.

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...