Nature Photographers Killed In Plane Crash

A plane crash in the eastern Sierra Nevada has claimed the lives of internationally known nature photographers Galen and Barbara Rowell.

Inyo County sheriff´s deputies say the two were aboard a chartered plane that went down at 1 a.m. Sunday about two miles south of the Bishop Airport. Deputy Paul Baldwin says the pilot and another passenger also were killed. Their identities were not confirmed.

An employee at the couple´s Bishop gallery, Mountain Light, says the Rowells were coming back from a photo workshop in the Arctic. They had returned to California on a commercial flight to Oakland, before boarding a charter flight to Bishop.

Along with books of photography, the couple´s photographs have appeared in National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Audubon and Outside magazines.