This magazine won't ever again look quite the same. But then, neither will the Duluth-Superior Harbor.

No one could capture the harbor and the ships, the sunrises and the sunsets quite like photographer Tim Slattery.

For more than 25 years, Tim's passion for this place was directly reflected in thousands of photos he took from every conceivable angle of every possible thing above, on and in the waters of western Lake Superior.

Tim Slattery, 1951-2003

Until his tragic death, on Oct. 23, Tim seemed to be an almost constant presence on the waterfront — even though his day-to-day itinerary was actually filled with doing portraits or memorializing weddings and other special events for Grandmaison Photographic Studios.

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority relied heavily on Tim's superb work. The covers of 16 of the past 24 issues of North Star Port had credit lines that read "Photo by Tim Slattery." Many of the photos inside the magazine were also his. In the past dozen years, his art graced no fewer than six of the Port's award-winning wall calendars.

He sometimes described himself as the "Official Unofficial USCG Photographer" because he had chronicled virtually every local U.S. Coast Guard activity since the 1970s while also serving in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Every staff member at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center knew him because of his daily monitoring of ship traffic at the adjacent Duluth Ship Canal. He also was a former president and longtime member of the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association.

Tim and Sue, his wife of 31 years, lived on Park Point, the long peninsula that separates Lake Superior from Superior Bay. They raised two children, Paul (Krystyn) and Jennifer (Jason) Gray and also had two grandchildren, plus a third expected in December.

Cheerful, upbeat, witty, enthusiastic, Tim had an infectious personality. Some people said he filled their days with sunshine.

It was sunny the afternoon he died, apparently falling out of a boat while seeking, as he always was, the right angle, the right light, the right shot. Few were surprised that the next morning it rained.