Jeff Kida

After 30 years as a professional photographer, and a long time contributor to Arizona Highways magazine, Jeff accepted the photography editor position at the magazine in 2006. Currently, his responsibilities include image selection for the monthly magazine, books, special projects and four annual calendars.

During his early career, Jeff worked for small dailies and as a stringer for the Arizona wire services. He joined the Phoenix Gazette in 1980 as a staff photographer shooting news, marketing and advertising. He stayed for eight years before returning to the freelance market, shooting for the Associated Press, The New York Times, The L.A. Times and Time magazine as well as Arizona Highways.

In addition to shooting and editing for Arizona Highways, in recent years, Jeff has been able to document humanitarian work for the American Volunteer Medical Team and various other NGO’s. The work has allowed him to experience places like, the Congo, Rwanda, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Lisa C. Alvarez

Lisa C. Alvarez is a California-licensed lawyer and nature photographer based near Sacramento. Lisa counsels and educates photographers on how to proactively prepare for and protect their creative work and businesses against the variable landscape of generative AI and other technologies.

Presently, Lisa serves as Secretary on the National Board of Directors for the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), a trade organization for photographers. She’s also a member of the Copyright Society, the Intellectual Property Section of the California Lawyers Association and its Copyright Interest Group, and the Alameda County Bar Association.

Lisa began her legal career over thirty years ago as an appellate attorney for the California Attorney General’s Office. Then, she entered private practice, first as a civil and criminal litigator and, later, as an elder law, trust, and estate planning practitioner.

In 2006, she paused her legal career to move to Madrid, where she took photography lessons from a local professional. Upon returning to California, she worked as an event photographer for the local school foundation and a small magazine before discovering her passion for nature photography.

While learning how to protect her own creative work, Lisa noticed other photographers struggling to enforce their copyrights. Drawing on her legal expertise, she began teaching photography groups about image rights and then opened her current law practice.

When not keeping up with the latest legal trends or photographing birds in urban spaces, you can find Lisa spending time with her family, walking their dog Astro, or knitting while binge-watching the latest cable series.

Mary Virginia Swanson

Mary Virginia Swanson brings extensive knowledge and deep connections across the photography industry, offering a wide range of insights into the creation, marketing, and publication of lens-based projects. She is the co-author, alongside Darius Himes, of Publish Your Photography Book, now in its 3rd edition (Radius Books, 2023). A highly respected educator and advisor, Swanson’s teachings have guided countless photographers through the complex process of bringing their work to publication.

Websites:
www.mvswanson.com
www.publishyourphotographybook.com

Instagram:
@maryvirginiaswanson

Thomas Maddrey

Thomas Maddrey serves as Chief Executive Officer for ASMP after accepting this position in December of 2024. Prior to this, he served as Chief Legal Officer for the Society since 2021. Thomas first joined ASMP more than 25 years ago while still a high school student.

For more than a decade, Thomas was a commercial and fine art photographer in his eponymous photography business Tom Maddrey Images. He received his photo training at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. After moving back to Texas, he co-founded a fine art photography gallery in Dallas, Blue Square Art. He would then go on to create the Eclipse Photography Institute, an online- and retail-based education company dedicated to helping photographers learn about business and creative skills through workshops, courses, and a series of DVDs that were sold in over 800 stores throughout the world.

In his time representing and working for ASMP and other creative organizations, Thomas has been the primary author on multiple U.S. Supreme Court briefs, including in the critical cases, Warhol v. Goldsmith, Allen v. Cooper, and Unicolors v. H&M. He has authored over a dozen amicus briefs at all levels of the judiciary helping to explain to the courts how their ruling will affect working creative professionals and why copyright protections are so vital. Thomas is admitted to the bar and is a member in good standing of the State of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 9th Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Wendy Shattil

Wendy Shattil stands out as a full-time professional wildlife and conservation photographer, a rare and remarkable career path. Winning the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Grand Prize as the first woman was a groundbreaking accomplishment. Additionally, receiving NANPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award reflects her significant contributions to the field of nature photography.

Her work goes beyond capturing beautiful images—she uses photography as a tool for storytelling and conservation advocacy. Through her lens, she has reached a broad audience, encouraging people to engage with and protect the environment, inspiring people to care for and protect the natural world. “Conservation photography goes beyond just capturing images; its about telling stories that motivate people to be aware and invested,” Shattil said.

Wendy’s Summit program CopyWronged©: Case stories of wildly successful infringement settlements is based on her experience with numerous copyright infringements and decades of successfully protecting unlicensed uses of her registered images. Being in this situation was never planned, but the first infringements in 1991 led Wendy to diligently register photos from that point on. The action of formalizing her rights continues to be justified many times over, reflected in a substantial number of settlements.

In 2024, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science added over 100,000 images by the Shattil/Rozinski team to their permanent archive. This collection serves as an invaluable scientific and historical resource and a testament to the lasting impact of their work. By spanning more than 40 years and being meticulously recorded with metadata (locations, dates, and species), these images contribute to research on biodiversity, species distribution, and environmental changes over time.

Wendy and Bob were named Founding Fellows in the International League of Conservation Photographers, Department Associate for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Artists in Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park. Together they received NANPA’s Philip Hyde Grant for environmental photography, Denver Audubon’s Environmental Stewardship Award and the Colorado Wildlife Federation’s Conservationist of the Year Award.