About Janis Miglavs
Image Source

Janis Miglavs’ more than 200,000 stock images from around the world are licensed through his stock image company, Image Source.  From people to pyramids, from Latvia to lattes, his images have met the needs of such companies as HP, Alaska Airlines, Boy Scouts of America, Deloitte and Touche, the State of Oregon, Portland Convention and Visitors Association, PGE, Sunriver Lodge and Resort, the Trail Blazers basketball, Southland Corp. (7-11 Stores) and US Bank.

BIOGRAPHY

Jånis Miglavs is an internationally renowned adventure travel photographer with more than 20 years of commercial, editorial and corporate experience, photographing people and places in more than 30 countries.

Born in 1948 in a displaced person's camp in Germany after his parents fled Latvia, he learned firsthand the importance of culture and the ripping pain of its loss, when invading Communists tried to erase his homeland's way of life.

Eventually, his family was able to immigrate to the United States, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, then received a master's degree in fine arts from California State University at Sacramento.

His first calling to adventure travel photography came in 1976, during a four-month trip through Japan, northern India, Nepal and Sikkim. In Nepal, through sheer luck, Jånis was one of the first to be allowed into the Muktinath/Mustang area on the border with Tibet. Since there were no tourist facilities in the area, he ate and slept in the villager’s cooking fire smoke-filled homes. The warm-hearted people, the immense mountainous landscapes and the monks who taught him about Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism expanded his inner vision of the world.

Jånis went on to become a National Geographic photographer, where he honed his skills in capturing poignant moments in people's everyday lives and in the splendor of nature.

Besides assignments and personal photographic projects in Europe, Asia, Peru, Egypt, Patagonia and Africa, Jånis has visited his homeland Latvia several times. On one of those trips, he reclaimed his parent’s farm from the Communists.

An Oregonian since 1982, Jånis has developed an extensive stock collection of worldwide landscapes, people, activities and indigenous tribes and people. Many have appeared in National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Travel Oregon, Sunset, National Wildlife and other publications.

In addition to his advertising, architectural and editorial photography, Jånis is developing a project he calls Africa’s Undiscovered Myths & Personal Dreams. His goal is to study the myths of wordwide tribes close to extinction, then create photo illustrations from the descriptions provided by the tribal elders, shamans and chiefs.

Currently Janis lives with his family in the rolling, vineyard-covered hills above Sherwood, Oregon, and works out of a barn next to his home.