Rankin Inlet (July 04/01) - When Randy Miller picks up his camera, magic happens.

It's been that way since the Rankin Inlet resident was blessed with his first pocket instamatic camera as a child.

In high school, he graduated to the world of single-lens reflex equipment and joined a photography club with a teenage friend. He used money earned from a paper route to buy some Canon equipment and rapidly developed a whole new way of seeing the world.

"The most exciting thing was when my friend and I started trying out double exposures and that kind of thing," said Miller.

"I guess I got really excited about what you could do with photography and the different effects you could get," he said.

That excitement intensified when Miller left Montreal for Nanisivik, a small mining community located on the northern tip of Baffin Island. The Arctic move combined with worldwide travel convinced the Canadian North employee he'd found a hobby worth keeping.

Largely self-taught, Miller said it became important to record what he was seeing so he could aptly display the harsh beauty of his environment to family and friends.

"It started that first summer when I discovered the Arctic. The land around Nanisivik was quite striking. Trying to capture that was a great experience," said Miller.

Using his favourite slide film, Fuji Provia, Miller went on spring camping trips, shot a narwhal hunt, participated in the full range of traditional Inuit activities and struggled to document the blue essence of icebergs.

He captured all of those memories on film he now displays on the walls of his home.

"I tried to get the feelings and the visual sights so I could pass them on to people who haven't experienced them," he said.

Miller left the High Arctic after 10 years and moved to the Kivalliq in the mid-1990s. He said his new challenge became learning to capture the wide open expanse of the tundra surrounding Hudson Bay.

"I had to change my focus a bit," he said, adding he'd also found a new slant to explore in the world of "macro," or extreme close-up, photography.

While Miller is well known locally for his dexterity with a lens, he's also been published in Up Here and Car and Driver magazines.

He said the latter of the magazines sent him into a tizzy when they contacted him about running three of his shots. The publication was doing a story on Rankin Inlet taxi cabs and Miller had taken pictures of Inuktitut street signs and some of the local winter road conditions.

"They e-mailed me to say they were going to use some of my photographs. I was really excited," said Miller. "I couldn't believe it. I was hopping all around the house."

Not ready to give up his day job to join the highly competitive world of professional photography -- Miller likes the rest and relaxation the hobby brings to his life -- he said he's considering developing a web site to market some of his photographs.

He also said he'd like to submit one of his favourite pictures to a competition, but wasn't ready to capitalize on the subject.

"I was travelling in Ethiopia and a little girl came and watched us while we had this picnic. I motioned if she would mind if I took her photo," he explained.

"It just does something to me, that photo. I'd like to submit it, but I can't bring myself to do it. I don't feel like I can profit from her. My wealth is incredible compared to hers," he said.

In the meantime, as he continues to shoot his surroundings and dabble in the realm of marketing his work, Miller said it's enough to see the pleasure people take in his art.

"People enjoy it. I appreciate that."