In the early days of PDN's 30—way back in good old 1999—proposals from hopeful photographers consisted of little more than a book of prints and perhaps some tearsheets. Now, in the eighth year of this special issue, portfolios and electronic submissions are accompanied by pages worth of information on the photographers, their careers and their lives. While many of these biographies get passed over in our mad rush to digest thousands of images in days, there are some gems that push their way through the haze. This year, stories of how the photographers found their craft, whether in their early years or later in life after trying other careers, were some of the most absorbing tales to come out of any PDN's 30.

Canadian-born Andrew Rowat tried his hand at a number of careers—including marine biology, modeling, programming and graphic designing for a Chinese carpet company. Today he lives in Shanghai, shooting for a slew of other magazines in one of the world's most interesting and unpredictable places on the planet. Bob O'Connor, an aspiring architect from Boston, was unsuccessful at tackling a college subject required for his projected career: physics. His fallback option? Photographing architecture.

Berkeley, California, photographer Eros Hoagland probably would have followed in the footsteps of his dad, Newsweek photographer John Hoagland. But his father's untimely death in El Salvador seemed to seal his career choice when, at the funeral, Jimmy Colton, then Newsweek photo director, gave Eros a bag of his father's cameras. Eros not only took up photography, but he even traveled, like his father, into war-torn countries all over the globe, including El Salvador.

Then there's Erica Shires. Over 17 years ago, Shires was about as far from the realm of photography as one could get. Working at a beauty salon in North Dallas called Muccini, she was a hairdresser and a single mother. She worked at the job for 11 years. Then, when she was 33, she decided to take a class at Collin Community College, a school not far from her home that had graduated another PDN's 30 alum, Misty Keasler. This tale of a dramatic career switch would be noteworthy enough, but digging deeper into Shires' childhood, her story is even more intriguing. Many photographers tell us that a gift of a camera from their parents triggered their careers in photography. Shires' inspiration came from a slightly skewed version of that story. Her father, Bill Shires, was an illustrator who took Polaroids of people to help with his drawings. His models? His children, of course (that's little Erica above).

"My father graduated from Art Center in 1960 and moved to Detroit where he met my mom and worked with many ad agencies, illustrating the new car brochures for Chevrolet, Chrysler and Ford,- says the now 41-year-old Shires. "After we moved to Chicago in 1966 he started doing more story-type illustrations in textbooks for publishing houses. All of my childhood images are black-and-white Polaroids of us kids posing for his stories as drawing references. I think that is where the idea for narrative in my work really comes from."

There are many more inspirational accounts of how this year's "30" found their calling. Of course, if their stories aren't enough to stir your emotions, there are always the dozens of stunning images.