Janis Miglavs is an internationally renowned adventure travel, architectural and wine photographer with more than 30 years of commercial, editorial and corporate experience, photographing people and places in more than 30 countries and counting.
Born in 1948 in a displaced person's camp in Germany after his parents fled Latvia, Janis 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 UC 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, Janis was one of the first to be allowed into the Muktinath/Mustang area on the border with Tibet. 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.
Janis went on to photograph and write for organizations like National Geographic, Sunsetand National Wildlife.
Besides assignments and personal photographic projects in Europe, Asia, Peru, Egypt, Patagonia and Africa, Janis has visited his homeland Latvia several times. On one of those trips, he reclaimed his farm from the Communists.
Somewhere along the line, wine seeped into his life. He has written and photographed three award-winning wine-related books, the most recent on Chinese Wineries for the Chinese market.
In addition to his advertising, architectural and editorial photography, Janis is developing and exhibiting his photo documentary, We All Have Five Fingers. His goal is to document the myths of indigenous tribes close to extinction, then create photo illustrations from the descriptions provided by chiefs, shamans, witch doctors and tribal elders.
After living in Maui for a couple of years, Janis and his wife Eddi moved back to Oregon to be closer his family.
