Randy and Andrea Wells, based in Bellevue, Wash., recently completed a travel assignment in the San Juan Islands for AAA Washington's magazine, Journey. Their images have appeared recently in Holland America's Caribbean and European brochures, Elle magazine, and books from Harcourt and Guest Informant.

Getty Images has appointed Cole Porter to the newly created position of senior editorial advisor. In his new role, Porter, formerly director of photography for the Seattle Times, will be an advocate for adherence to photojournalistic editorial standards.

In September, photographic artist Albert Normandin mounted an exhibit of his work at Sugar and Sugar, a gallery in the Gastown district of Vancouver, B.C. An auction party was scheduled for Sept. 20, with proceeds to benefit the ALS Society of British Columbia.

The six-week show, titled "So Far," includes photographs Normandin has taken during his travels to 28 countries over his career.

Tony Duran, a Los Angeles photographer known for his images of celebrities, recently finished an all-day photo shoot with IMG model, Albert Reed. A segment of the shoot and an interview with Reed were filmed for Al Gore's new television project, "Current."

Ivey Imaging, based in Seattle, has acquired the assets of Southern California Screen Printing, including a specially designed 37,000-square-foot production facility and a broad range of technology and equipment. Ivey also recently established a sales office in Los Angeles.

Southern California Screen Printing, founded in Fontana, Calif.,in 1987, includes among its clients such companies as 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Kroger and Imax.

Rich Ayres, owner of SoCal, will continue with the company as vice president of business development.

This summer, Adam Bacher, a photographer based in Portland, Ore., was one of several artists selected by Portland City Hall to participate in a series of First Thursday events.

The month-long exhibition of Bacher's work included images from areas in the western United States.

Danita Delimont Stock Photography, based in Bellevue, Wash., has launched a visual search feature on its web site, danitadelimont.com.

After conducting a standard keyword search, the user can use the visual search tool to browse through the results to find an image that is close to what he or she has in mind. Selecting an icon beneath the image causes the search feature to re-sort the images pulled up by the original keyword search, placing the closest visual matches at the top of the page.

Both traditional keyword search and visual search options are available. The company offers more than 70,000 images online.

The George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography have allied to create PhotoMuse.org, a collaborative web site designed to provide a free resource for the study of photography at work inthe world. A prototype version of the site, containing more than 1,600 images, currently is available. When completed in 2006, the site is expected to include almost 200,000 photographs from both collections.

The Images for Conservation Fund's Pro-Tour of Nature Photography has received applications from 95 landowners who would like to participate in the event, scheduled for next April in the Texas Hill Country.

The Pro-Tour, which will match nature photographers with private landowners, seeks to foster greater wildlife conservation through the promotion of photo tourism income for private landowners (see PhotoMedia, Summer 2004, p. 34). The landowner applicant pool will be narrowed from 95 applicants to 20 finalists, who will be matched...

Seattle-based OnRequest Images has launched a new service to provide customers with broader choices about their involvement in the image production process. Custom Assignment Services allows customers to select photographers and direct photo shoots, just as they would with regular assignment photography.

Trade associations, such as the Professional Photographers of America, American Society of Media Photographers and Stock Artists Alliance, are cautious about the new service. Representatives of the groups have expressed concern about spec assignments, fees, royalties and copyright issues.