Ely photographer Steve Foss travels the United States to photograph portraits, guide nature photography workshops on wildflowers, birds and wolves, and guide clients one-on-one in teaching photo excursions. A full-service professional, Steve also provides commercial photography for a wide range of clients, including those in products/promotions and realty.

A native of LaCrosse, Wis., Steve lived there as a young child before moving to North Dakota, where he grew up.

A love of nature has been with Steve his whole life, nurtured by the river, bluffs and forests around LaCrosse, the infinite expanse of the Dakota prairie, the long views from the Colorado and Montana Rockies and the wilderness of northeastern Minnesota.

He first held a camera when he was 16 when a friend loaned him a camera he checked out for a high school photography class. Steve got a Canon AE-1 for high school graduation, and has been a faithful Canon man since.

A newspaper writer, assigning editor, page designer and photographer for about 15 years, he started his newspaper career in 1992 in Harvey, N.D. He spent several years as a writer and assigning editor at the Grand Forks Herald, the town of his upbringing. His mate, Lisa, and he own a piece of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their work at the paper after the Great Red River Flood of 1997 drove people from the town, flooding the Herald building. During the flood, a fire broke out, destroying several downtown buildings, including the Herald, but the paper never missed a day of publication.

Steve and Lisa moved to Duluth/Superior in 2001, where Steve was a city editor who developed coverage and supervised reporters at the Duluth News Tribune. In 2003 he and Lisa moved to Ely, where Steve became the editor of the Ely Timberjay and built his image library and client base until he left the newspaper business to devote the rest of his life to photography and freelance editing.

Steve’s work has been featured in several individual and group showings in northern Minnesota, and his images have appeared in National Geographic Adventure, Birder’s World, Boundary Waters Journal, and in a wide variety of national, regional and local publications, books and calendars. He recently got back into the news business by becoming a contract photographer for Minnesota Public Radio’s Web site and social media.

Look also for Steve’s “Black Wolf of the Fernberg” image on the cover of Summer of the Wolves, written by local author Polly Carlson-Voiles and published by Houghton-Mifflin Co. The book has already won several awards.