Richard Barnes
On a trip to Rome, Richard Barnes (“Flight
Plan”) was captivated by a “living smudge” he noticed in the sky, which consisted of hundreds of thousands of starlings. “The birds create these amazing shapes, like computer animation, ephemeral and mesmerizing,” he says. Barnes’s work is displayed worldwide in such venues as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. His book Animal Logic, on how humans relate to the animal world through museum exhibitions, is due in September.

Abby Ellin
Congress’s resolve to make the Hill more environmentally friendly impressed Abby Ellin (“Capitol Gains”). “People have really put their money where their mouth is,” she says. “Despite a few dissenters, plans keep moving along.” Author of the 2005 autobiographical and inspirational book Teenage Waistland, Ellin is a columnist for The New York Times and has written for a variety of magazines, including Time, Marie Claire, and Spy.

Jules Frazier
A can-do spirit filled the air when Jules Frazier (“Last-Ditch Rescues”) photographed people salvaging plants from a site slated for development near Seattle. “Folks were out there digging up plants in the pouring rain, shoving them into their cars in tarps,” she says. “Nothing was going to stop these people from taking them home!” A fine-art and advertising photographer, Frazier captures the texture and solitude of arid landscapes in The Faded Icons of the West.

Peter Friederici
Understanding bird flocks can tell us a lot about ourselves, as Peter Friederici (“Flight Plan”) learned: “Some of the trends we exhibit—such as when we’re polled or when we vote—show remarkable parallels to flock behavior. At a time when a healthy economy requires cooperation, we need to learn about how such relationships work for everyone.” Friederici won a first-place award last year from the Society of Environmental Journalists for his story on water conservation.

James McCommons
“Reporting on efforts to restore natural landscapes is a satisfying, hands-on experience,” says James McCommons (“Last-Ditch Rescues”), “but the plant salvage in Washington was bittersweet: While it’s good to save and reuse these plants for restoration projects, they’re only available because habitat is being destroyed.” McCommons’s recent project, Waiting on a Train, explores how intercity rail service could be restored as an alternative to auto and air transportation.

Roy Toft
As if defying death on a rope climb into the tropical canopy of Honduras’s Pico Bonito National Park wasn’t exhilarating enough, Roy Toft (“Where Dreams Come True”) also scored time photographing the elusive lovely cotinga. “Its lure to birdwatchers could bring needed revenue to this impoverished country,” he says. Toft is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, which uses photography to support global conservation efforts.