Photographer and climber Didrik Johnck chronicled blind world-class athlete/adventurer Erik Weihenmayer’s historic ascent up Mount Elbrus in Russia in June. The climb marked Weihenmayer’s sixth leg of the Seven Summits conquest. Johnck, based in San Francisco, also was the expedition photographer for Weihenmayer’s previous Seven Summit achievement on Mount Everest in May 2001.

“Crater Lake National Park Wild and Beautiful” has been named the Official Book of the Centennial Celebration for Crater Lake National Park. Four photographers, Charles Blakeslee, John Hinderman, Fred Pfughoft and David Morris, captured the character of the park throughout the seasons and portrayed a number of the hard-to-find creatures who make Crater Lake their home. The book was originally published by Farcountry Press in 2001.

Shawn Frederick Photography recently completed the Verizon (Hispanic) project for La Agencia de Orci, based in Los Angeles. The images, produced under the art direction of Heidy Fu, will appear as diorama billboards throughout Shea Stadium in Flushing, N.Y.

Frederick’s studio also won the Remo Drums shoot for Spasmodic Agency of Laguna Beach, Calif., with Bruce Mayo as art director, and recently finished...

Ron Allured, a photographer based in Puyallup, Wash., recently finished a series of portraits he called the “Pillar of Puyallup Project.” Local residents were asked to nominate subjects in several categories related to their position in the community. Seventeen people were captured on film, and their portraits were displayed at the South Hill Borders bookstore through the month of July. In September, the display moved to the new library.

Home: Sebastopol, Calif.

Photographic equipment: A 6-megapixel Kodak 760 — based on a 35mm Nikon body — that replaced his Kodak 560. "I just purchased a Kodak 645 Pro Back and Mamiya 645 system that is taking the place of my medium format film cameras," Bybee says. "I have a drum scanner — and have had for a long time — for film. Most of my files are on film, but in the last couple of years I've switched over to do as much as I can digitally. I'm trying to go 100 percent digital capture now."

Advice for aspiring studio shooters: "Follow your passion and instincts," he says. "Work harder than your competition if you have to. Be a constant observer of light. Your ability to see and record light will ultimately set you apart and define your style."

Website: bybee.com

Gerald Bybee continues to shake up the studio world with his beautiful and eerie images.

Like photo-cubism, the genre he invented, Gerald Bybee has many facets. He's not totally visible from any one side. A glimpse of his self-portrait below reveals one aspect, but then the image shifts. He seems not totally in one space, not completely in another.Or maybe he is, and it's your own perspective that's skewed.

Consider some facts about Bybee: He has a client list to die for. Ad agencies and magazines count on him for images that are odd, yet realistic, and sometimes shocking. He's a burgeoning artist. He's the kind of guy who works all night to meet a deadline, meticulously piecing together images. He's a family man who appreciates...

Pete Moraz of Spokane, Wash., has received the Kodak Gallery Award, which recognizes excellence in photography, from Kodak’s Professional Division. Moraz was honored for “Jewel of the Nile,” an image entered in the Portrait category. The photograph was also named Best Portrait of a Woman at the Professional Photographers of Washington’s 50th Anniversary Convention and Print Competition.

In the year since Sept. 11, 2001, we've seen many somber images fraught with the significance of that day. As we head toward another winter of uncertainty, it's nice to be reminded of the days when art was more often created for art's sake.

This joyous sculpture, dancing amid its own solar system, was captured by stock photographer Larry Brownstein just days before the 9/11 attacks, while he was attending a week-long event known as the Burning Man Festival.

Held every year the week before Labor Day, Burning Man is a free-form gathering of the avant-garde, who create temporary artworks in the remote Black Rock Desert outside Reno, Nev. At the end of the week, an enormous wooden statue in the shape of a standing figure is burned in a ritual bonfire, the significance of which is left to each viewer to decide...