After almost 25 years of being on assignment as a photographer, Annie has decided that one key to her success is her gender. "As a woman, I look harmless. I try not to look too interesting, and I disappear when the situation gets rough." She also has a way with people, disarming them and engaging them so they trust her and relax. That's when the true emotional connection begins, and it shows up in her images.

When Michael first picked up a camera, he was as an engineering student at Syracuse University. What he quickly found out was that photography was a perfect way to meld the technical and creative sides of his nature. After he graduated, he established himself in New York City. When he got an assignment from Life Magazine in 1981, he was on his way. "That was tremendous for me," he remembers. "I was able to take so many wonderful photographs, and just saying the word Life opened up so many doors."

Joel grew up outside Omaha in the small town of Ralston, and he's remained a lifelong Nebraskan. During 20 years of photographing (17 with the National Geographic Society), he's covered everything from the remote Amazon rain forest to the threats to Alaska's North Slope to beer-drinking, mountain-racing firefighters in the United Kingdom. Most of his assignments involve exotic locations, a lot of personal hardship, and a fair amount of danger. He's been chased by unhappy bears, alligators, and musk oxen and struck at by an eight-foot-long anaconda snake.