Travis Svihovec was born and raised in Lemmon, [Perkins County] SD, in the northwest corner of the state. He is a graduate of South Dakota State University, in Brookings [Brookings County], which is where his interest in photography started. He earned a degree in Agricultural Journalism, and after nine years as a sports writer, news editor and photographer, he purchased a photography studio in 2000.

The State Art project is unlike anything I ever expected to do, Svihovec said.  As I covered the state to gather images for Looking for South Dakota, I got to see the state in many new ways.

Svihovec logged thousands of miles over two years of traveling and shooting in all 66 South Dakota counties. Part way through the project he met Angie Henry, who was born and raised in the northeast South Dakota city of Sisseton [Roberts County]. Angie made two of the trips with Svihovec, "looking," and they were married in October, 2003.

We learned a lot about each other on those trips, he said. It can be a long ways from one county seat to the next and the time we spent together on those trips is still among our favorite memories.

The couple lives in the north central South Dakota city of Mobridge [Walworth County] with sons Drew and Tyler and daughter Sophie.