LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — You may not recognize the name, but if you enjoy photographs of Labrador retrievers, you've seen his work.

Lee Thomas Kjos' photos have appeared on many national and regional magazine covers, including Ducks Unlimited, and are featured throughout the Labrador retriever annual calendars published by both Cabelas and DU.

Kjos is capturing images at this year's ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

In other words, he's working at his job as a freelance photographer. But no one working here is having as much fun as Kjos. Anytime there are retrievers around, especially great ones like those featured in the Retriever Trials and Big Air events, the 42-year-old Kjos feels like a kid on Christmas Day.

"I'm really passionate about it," Kjos said. "I love the dogs."

In fact, Kjos has combined two passions — photography and hunting dogs.

"When I was eight years old, I tried baiting a chipmunk with shoestring potatoes," Kjos said. "I got the chipmunk really close and photographed it with a 110 Instamatic. When I got the film back, the photos just sucked. That's when I got serious about it."

When Kjos was 14, he got a job de-tasseling corn. It's miserable work, walking the rows of a huge corn field, pulling the tassels off corn as part of hybrid seed production. It left him coverd with corn lice, corn syrup and abrasions, and it earned him $400, with which he bought a Canon FTB camera and a 300-millimeter, f 4.5 lens.

Tom Dokken, who manufactures the DeadFowl Trainer, is a neighbor, friend and hunting parter in Webster, Minn. Five years ago, when Dokken introduced the product, Kjos helped in publicity efforts with his photography. It's been one assignment after another since then, all involving dogs.

Kjos credits his distinctive work to having both the eye of an artist - he paints and draws - and the eye of a hunter.

"Sometimes people ask me, 'Why don't you shoot that?'" Kjos said. "It's usually because there's nothing there. You've got to know when a particular scene is special. I think there is an art quality to my work."

That work can be seen in one book in print, two others that will be in print later this year and two more scheduled for publication. "Lab Rules: Virtues of Canine Character," published by Willow Creek Press is the work available now. "Season's Belle," published by Down East Press, will be available August 1. "The Little Duck Hunter" is scheduled to be published by Ducks Unlimited/Pequot Press on Sept. 1 and is the first in a trilogy.

Kjos and his wife, Bonnie, have known each other since grade school days. She doesn't always go afield with Lee, but she accompanied him to Lake Placid for the Great Outdoor Games.

"I like Lake Placid," Lee said. "This is a great place for Bonnie and I to get away. And I think this is a cool venue. Part of the retriever world hasn't caught on to this yet, but it's great for the retriever world."

And that's the world Kjos plans to work in for many years to come.