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...

Casio announced the release of three new additions to its extended Exilim family of digital cameras: the 10.1-megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z300, the 9.1-megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z250 and the 9.1-megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z85 cameras.

The EX-Z300 and EX-Z250 use Casio's new Exilim Engine 3.0 to produce better image quality with low noise and moiré. These models automatically detect and correct for difficult situations, such as night scene photography or...

Portland, Ore.-based photographer Joni Kabana recently completed another trip to Madagascar to help extend support for education and health care in the African country. While on the trip, Kabana kept a detailed blog and exhibited work upon her return in September at Portland's City Club.

Accompanied by Dr. Philippa Ribbink and writer Vivian McInerny, Kabana returned to the village of the child featured in her book "Torina's World: A Child's Life in Madagascar," which was published by Arnica last fall.

News from Microsoft’s Pro Photo Summit

At Microsoft’s third annual Pro Photo Summit, held earlier this summer in Redmond, Wash., some of my favorite parts were the “Five Minutes to Wow” segments. Basically, each presenter had five minutes to demonstrate a product or technology and elicit a “wow” from the audience.

The presenters were from Microsoft’s research group and from several other companies, and they showed some pretty amazing things. Multigigapixel images; 3-D models of landscapes and cities constructed from hundreds of images; a new image file format; new and better techniques for sharpening images – all these and much more were presented during the two-day summit...

Aspen, Colo.-based photographer Tyler Stableford has been named an Explorer of Light by Canon. As an Explorer of Light, Stableford will teach seminars that are unique to his particular niche of outdoor sports, lifestyle and heavy industry.

Stableford has won numerous Picture of the Year awards through different organizations, including Men's Journal magazine, which named him one of the "World's Greatest Adventure Photographers" in 2005 for his images of...

Canon has introduced the EOS Rebel XS, a new digital SLR that includes an optical-image-stabilized lens and easy-to-use professional features. Weighing less than a pound, the Rebel XS is the lightest body in the EOS digital series.

The Rebel XS incorporates an APS-C size (22.2x14.8 mm) CMOS sensor enabling 10.1 million-pixel images and Canon's DIGIC III image processor to deliver imaging performance and responsiveness. The EOS Integrated Cleaning System features both hardware and...

p>Microsoft and Nikon have announced the signing of a patent cross-licensing agreement that will cover digital cameras and other products. The agreement aims to further the development of each company's current and future product lines, and covers digital cameras made by Nikon as well as a range of other consumer products that each company manufactures and sells.

The companies believe the cross-licensing agreement will benefit customers of their consumer products because...

Two opposing views from photo experts on how Congress is attempting to address images with uncertain ownership

For all the upheaval that has shaken the photography industry in recent years, one of the more contentious issues is the management of so-called “orphan works” – those created compositions that have no discernible owner or definitive copyright information.

While everyone agrees that something must be decided to protect the copyright of archival images that are currently in legal limbo, consensus had yet to be reached at press time.

After a long career with Seattle-based Glazer's Camera, including 12 years as general manager, Ken Smith has left the firm to create Navigate Photography, a company designed to connect the travel industry with the photographic industry. The new company will provide a variety of services, including workshops on cruise ships, land-based expeditions, rental equipment to cruise passengers, photographic consultation to businesses and large-format printing.

Another of Smith's new ventures, Photo Partners — a partnership with Dennis Wilson and...