Rob Howard
Mumbai
For a story on Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, photographer Rob Howard traveled to Mumbai, a city he hadn’t been to in a decade. “The rise in conspicuous consumption is so much more apparent now. Billboards advertising banking, travel, and investment opportunities are everywhere,” says Howard, who has shot for Condé Nast Traveler and Men’s Journal. “That said, the poverty is in your face too. It’s a shocking assault on your system.”

Karl Taro Greenfeld
Tokyo
When former Time Asia editor Karl Taro Greenfeld published Speed Tribes, his 1995 book on Japanese youth culture, he never expected that he would return to find some of those same people running successful businesses 12 years later. One of Greenfeld’s subjects, Nigo, went from stenciling T-shirts to creating A Bathing Ape, a growing global brand. “Despite all the bling, Nigo is pretty low-key and quiet,” Greenfeld says. “He describes himself as being a shopkeeper.”

Michael Wolf
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Munich-born photographer and author Michael Wolf has lived in China for more than a decade and has published three books on the country. For this issue, he traveled to Malaysia to capture Tony Fernandes, the C.E.O. of AirAsia, in action. “I flew with Tony,” Wolf says. “He chats with passengers and crew members, and he’s sincere. That’s probably the secret to his success.”

Dan Winters
Sydney
Shooting the world’s top patent holders sent photographer Dan Winters to Tokyo; Boise, Idaho; Driftwood, Texas; and Highland, Illinois; as well as Sydney. “You think the subjects are going to have these crazy contraptions and workshops, and nothing could be further from the truth,” says Winters, whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Rolling Stone. “All the stuff is nano and micro.”