Annie Wells, 42, has worked as a photographer for The Press Democrat for eight years.

Her assignments have included the 1996 World Cup, national elections in Mexico and the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Her work is included in the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Before coming to the newspaper, she worked as a photographer for Associated Press in San Francisco, the Greeley Tribune in Greeley, Colorado, and the Herald Journal in Logan, Utah.

She received a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in science writing and studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University where she was part of a group that won the RFK public service award for a series of stories and photographs on people who help those with AIDS.