Zakary Zide
FILM-FEST FOUNDER

"We're trying to make sustainability sexy," says Zide of his EarthDance environmental-film festival (earthdancefilms.com). "We're using a 21st-century medium to tell the age-old story of man's relationship to nature." Natural-sciences program manager at the Oakland Museum of California, Zide, 39, has earned his living as an educator for the past 14 years—leading scuba trips in the Galápagos and studying wild elephants in Thailand along the way. But in 2003, Zide saw a gap between his day job and his artistic sensibilities: "The festival was conceived to inspire an interdisciplinary dialogue," he explains. "I'm always asking myself, How can I communicate inspiration and wonder in nonformulaic ways?" EEFF was originally "short-attention-span environmental film," but on the 2007 tour, which will hit 15 cities around the world, you'll see feature-length films as well as short comedies and mockumentaries—two days' worth. "Learning builds from emotion," Zide says. "Get people to care and you'll get results." Amen.

ADVICE? "I got where I am through vision, innovation, and diligence. Oh, and sexual favors. Cultivate curiosity. Share what you find. Repeat."
—PHILIP ARMOUR

Paolo Marchesi
ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHER

Care to take a dip with huge squids—extremely deadly Humboldts, that is—while wrestling a camera? Us neither, but Marchesi, 39, has done that and more in the name of work, all over the world. KEVIN KENNEDY recently chatted up the Italian about making it as a lensman.

OUTSIDE: How'd you get started?
MARCHESI: When I was an art director in Paris, I started experimenting with cheesy pictures of my girlfriend. That first year, I made $1,000. The phone didn't ring for months. No matter how good you are, if people don't recognize your name, they won't see your skill.

And you got recognition how?
Persistence. And the fact that my happiness is my first priority. Every day is a workday; every day is a play day. That's the beauty of loving what you do. Fortunately, money followed.

Would you say you have a style?
Photographers should be hired for their vision, not for their style. Style is nothing but technique, and technique is irrelevant.

Digital or film?
I shoot both, but, in my opinion, darkroom days are over. You have so much more control on a computer, and you don't have to be in the dark. I don't like the dark.

ADVICE? Shoot what you love and have no fear of rejection. No matter how good you are, there will always be someone who thinks your work sucks.