#4 Rick Smolan

Rick Smolan (1949 - ) is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer. He is a CEO of company, Against Odds Productions, specializes in the design and execution of large-scale global projects that combine compelling storytelling with state-of-the-art technology. Many of Smolan's books have been New York Times best-sellers and have been featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Fortune and U.S. News and World Report.

Smolan has long been a force for exploring culture through photography. The "Day in the Life" photography series that he founded - best-selling photo books that captured life in America, Japan, Australia, the Soviet Union - was an '80s cultural phenomenon. He ambitiously gathered photographers from all parts of the world to chosen country like Japan and captured images of the country. Likewise, he created a project America 24/7 in order to make a photography book which depicts life of Americans from every U.S. State. More than 25,000 photographers responded in this project.

His book, The Obama Time Capsule offered readers a unique feature which designed to showcase one of the most important presidential races in U.S. history through the eyes of more than 140 of the world's top photographers. Unlike any book ever produced, this one offers readers different ways to personalize the book by adding their own content, including listing each buyer on the cover and title page as "co-author" and photographs of the customers appearing on the back cover of the book.

He is also a photographer who has many interesting stories. In 1977, he recorded Robyn Davidson's 1,700 mile trek from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean on foot with four camels and a dog as her companions. After the journey, National Geographic published her journey.

Their story was dramatized by movie starts: Tracks in the last year.

reference: Rick Smolan’s Trek with TRACKS, from Australian Outback to Silver Screen
The story of a girl (TED talks)