Lik was born in Melbourne to Czech parents who emigrated to Australia after World War II.

[2] In his youth, Lik would bring his camera on family vacations and take photos of country scenes and the ocean.

This practice continued when he took road trips out of the city and into the wilds of Australia, often accompanied by his friend and fellow photographer Michael Plumridge.

[3] Lik spent the early 1990s working for the tourism department of Queensland, Australia, traveling through the Outback and photographing little-seen areas.

In December 2010, Lik sold by his own account a photograph for US$1 million to an anonymous collector, his highest-priced sale at that time.

His "Inner Peace" won a 2011 Windland Smith Rice International Award, and was on display at the Smithsonian from April through September 2012.

The documentary series followed Lik on his journeys across the United States searching for and photographing attractive landscapes, such as the volcanoes of Hawaii, mountains of Montana, Arizona's Grand Canyon, and Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.