Millie Traub explores her new hometown — with photos

Kailie and Tamika Atighioyak share their pleasure in a summer day by the river in Cambridge Bay with photographer Millie Traub. (PHOTO BY MILLIE TRAUB)

Jazz Kalluk’s dazzling smile rivals the beauty of a summer day when Millie Traub went down to the river to take photos. (PHOTO BY MILLIE TRAUB)

With her telephoto lens, Millie Traub was able to get a close-up of one of the many muskox found around Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY MILLIE TRAUB)

It took Mille Traub a few tries before she was able to get a shot of this jaeger sitting on a nest near Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY MILLIE TRAUB)

If you’re want to find Millie Traub on a weekend, just look for a black and grey pickup truck on the road behind Cambridge Bay’s Cam Main radar station.

That’s where you’ll see her, sometimes as early as 5:00 a.m. on a good day.

Traub is likely to be peering through the window with a pair of binoculars or crouching on the land.

Wherever she is, she brings along her camera, a Canon 5D-Mark II, often cloaked in a special cover to protect it from rain or dust.

During the week, you’ll find Traub at the hamlet office, where she works as a janitor.

Between her day job and her pastime, there might seem to be a world of difference.

But here’s the link: Traub puts the same care into making sure things are tidy and in place as she does in taking photos which are well focused and composed.

Traub, 50, is a newcomer to Nunavut and to Cambridge Bay — she arrived in the Kitikmeot community of 1,200 four years ago when her husband Andy took a job with the Government of Nunavut.

Originally from Nova Scotia, the former resident of Goose Bay, Labrador, says she’s not looking back.

Instead, Traub is taking a close look around Cambridge Bay, at the people who live there and at the abundant wildlife out on the land.

In a town with many skilled photographer, who regularly share their work on Facebook, Traub’s photos have been getting their share of attention.

Traub attributes her eye-catching photos to her lenses — which include huge wide-angle and telephoto lenses — but also to her love of her adopted town.

“They show the beauty of Cambridge Bay,” Traub says.

And that beauty shines through in her photos.

A recent sunny afternoon saw Traub down near the river where she snapped a number of people enjoying barbecues and family outings.

With her camera, she caught everyone’s pleasure in the day and each other — Kailie and Tamika Atighioyak in a playful embrace or Jazz Kalluk, with a flower in her hair.

Traub’s favourite subjects include children and animals.

But photography on the land has its challenges.

On her way back from a recent jaunt, Traub couldn’t get her truck going.

Finally she walked back to town in a cloud of mosquitoes. The truck was fine: she’d just tried to start the truck when it wasn’t in the proper gear.

Sometimes it takes Traub several tries to get the right shot.

Recently, Traub finally managed to get a close-up of a jaeger she’d spotted before.

Sometimes she just comes upon a scene, as when she saw a playful Arctic fox by an old building in early spring.

Another time she saw two foxes frolicking in the mud — one of the shots she missed, and regrets.

In the spring, Traub often drives out of the community towards the airport where migratory birds like to stop on their flights north. There she caught a photo of a majestic king eider, with its rainbow colouring of orange, red and green.

Self-taught, Traub attributes the success of her photos to having a good camera.

Last year, Traub was among 140 amateur photographers from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to submit their photos to the Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., capturing something they love about “Life in the Arctic,” for the co-op’s annual calendar.

Traub’s photo of a ptarmigan was featured on the cover of the 2011 calendar.

Here’s Millie Traub on a recent photo excursion outside Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY ANDY TRAUB)