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Travis Novitsky - Grand Portage, MN

A life-long resident of the north shore of Lake Superior, Travis was born in 1975 in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He resides in Grand Portage, a small Indian reservation in the very northeast tip of Minnesota. He is an enrolled tribal member of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe). His home is on the shores of one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, amid deep woods at the edge of Canada and the United States. Having lived his entire life in this area, he knows instinctively the when and the where of how light will play on the land, trees and water. For a photographer, it’s a very good place to be.

Growing up on the shores of Lake Superior, he and his friends amused themselves by spending most of their time outdoors. “Our days were spent riding our bikes, digging up clay along the beach, trying to catch fish with our hands in Portage Creek, making forts in the woods, in general just doing anything we could think of, using our imaginations to keep ourselves entertained. Most of my family has always been into the outdoors. My uncles are all hunters and fishermen and a couple of them used to run trap lines, too. I think that has carried over into me, albeit in a different way.”

Travis started making images while in high school with a basic point-and-shoot Pentax film camera. A lover of the outdoors, he took his camera with him whenever he went for a hike or a mountain bike ride. His interest in photos goes back to even earlier days, his father having recorded many childhood memories on slide film. These memories were often re–lived during family slide shows. This is where he first gained an appreciation for photography. That appreciation carries over to the present day, where Travis now specializes in images of Lake Superior and the Minnesota north woods.

Often asked what it was that made him “get into photography”, Travis’ reply is that there is no one defining moment that made him decide to pick up a camera. While he has admired the work of many photographers over the years, most notably Jim Brandenburg and Craig Blacklock, the one person who stands out as having the biggest influence on his own photography is someone that he sees on a daily basis: his dad. He gives his dad credit for being the one who originally got him interested in photography: “While he never pressured me to pick up a camera and start taking pictures, he always had a camera in hand when I was growing up. My desire to try and create my own collection of beautiful, memorable images was triggered by viewing his extensive library of awe-inspiring slides throughout the years.”

The tools, of course, have changed dramatically over the years. From his first basic Pentax, Travis moved to a Minolta X-700 SLR film camera with a variety of lenses before moving to his first digital camera in 2001. While shooting film, photography was more of a hobby than anything else. Since moving to digital, however, he was soon immersing himself in the creation of nature images and it soon became his passion. These days Travis shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, carrying it with him wherever he goes. Whether going for a paddle in the canoe or kayak, taking the motor boat out on Lake Superior, going for a hike or bike ride, or just taking the car to the local store to check his mail. Wherever he goes, the camera is always with him. Although he does sell prints and usage rights to his images, his photography remains mostly a hobby. Travis works full-time seasonally for the Minnesota State Parks system at Grand Portage State Park, which features the tallest waterfall in Minnesota. “I love my job with the state park system and while I also love photography, I don’t see myself leaving my job anytime soon to pursue photography full-time.” His photography does bring in some money, but his job at the state park is what pays the bills.

A self-taught photographer, what he knows and the skills he has honed are earning him recognition for his photography. His photos have been published in regional magazines and books, and some of his prints are part of the permanent exhibit collection at Grand Portage National Monument. His website has proven to be a very popular marketing tool. In the past 6 years he has also become an avid traveler, spending up to 3 months on the road each year with his camera. As much as he has come to love making images of the places he explores during his travels, his favorite subject remains the great lake known as Superior, and the woods that surround it.

His home is surrounded by lakes, rivers, boreal forest and old mountains that encompass the highest elevations and some of the most rugged terrain to be found in the state of Minnesota. That is to say, there is never a shortage of photographic subjects! Due to the remote location of the area where he lives, Travis also has access to some incredible night skies with very little light pollution. Night photography has become his favorite type of photography. “I love to experiment with long exposures under the stars and the moonlight… it’s a specialty that not a lot of people have, and I am becoming more and more known for it.”

While he would like for the business side of his photography to grow, Travis appreciates the synergy that currently exists between his photography and his day job. “A large part of my job is dispensing information about the local area to the state park visitors. I often share my images with park visitors in an effort to educate them more about the local area. It really helps to give the park visitors a fuller, richer experience and gets them excited about areas that they otherwise might not have known about. I love photography and I love nature… and I love sharing my knowledge of both with the world.”

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All photography is © 2005-2010 Travis Novitsky.
Used with permission. All unauthorized use is prohibited.