Melissa Marteny is a career photojournalist. Her experience in sports, news and feature photography was received at the Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bremerton Sun, Tacoma News Tribune, Bellingham Herald and other publications. She has photographed Mount Saint Helens eruptions, two presidents and the Queen of England, and traveled to Afghanistan during the Soviet Afghan war where she and her camera were at the front with the mujahedin.