A few weeks ago I did a story with a photographer named Greg Miller, a guy who does street editorial photographer with a big, heavy 8×10 view camera. The first question I asked him was – “do people get all the Greg Miller photographers confused?”. He admitted they did, and talked about the three or four professional photographers named Greg Miller. He also mentioned Gregory Miller, and lauded his work.
So naturally, I had to talk to the other Gregory Miller, and ask him the same question. And one question led to another:
Have editors or anyone else ever confused you with another photographer by the same name?
I did get a call my second year out of school from People Magazine, asking about my availability to shoot Patrick Sheehan, the late Cindy Sheehan’s ex-husband. That call was immediately followed by a second call with apologies. The photo editor said she didn’t realize the job had already been assigned. I assume she was confusing me for the Greg Miller that is based out of Brooklyn, and that they had intended to assign the story to him. I also had the his film sent to me by Time once. He’s a great photographer. I hope it hasn’t presented any annoyance for him about our shared names and professions. I also got a few calls from Montana high school students wanting to know about their senior pictures. There’s one in Billings who has a portrait studio. And there is still another in upstate New York who shoots landscapes. That’s four Greg Millers making pictures that I know of.
Background: Can you tell me how long you’ve been in photography and what brought you to it?
I became interested in photography when I was in middle and high school. I took my first class at the now-defunct Atlanta College of Art. It was a Saturday class. I followed that with a high school internship at the Atlanta Journal and Consititution. The photographers there recommended I pursue an education in photojournalism at either Ohio University or Western Kentucky University. I chose Western Kentucky, but only attended one semester. The rural town of Bowling Green didn’t agree with me, so I transferred to University of Georgia and pursued a B.A. of English. While in school, I kept a darkroom and challenged myself to shoot like my heroes: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank and Harry Callahan. I decided New York City is where I would start my career, so after graduation, I moved up there and started working for a fashion and advertising photographer as an intern. That internship developed into a stint as retoucher and studio manager. I returned to Atlanta after a little more than a year in New York. I worked at a retouching house for a few years before deciding that I hadn’t really given photography my best shot. I started school at Portfolio Center in the fall of 2001. Upon graduation, I had a pretty strong portfolio, 2000 mini-books mailed out to addresses across the country and an annual report job from SamataMason under my belt. I immediately traveled to Chicago to show my book and returned to Atlanta with the promise of shooting an annual report for VSA, Partners. I was convinced I wanted to move to Chicago until I shot that job in January the following year. I don’t think I was built to survive a Chicago winter.
Was there one thing you can point to that really turned you onto photography?
My mother is still the reigning family documentarian. I feel pretty strongly that her ever-present camera and snapshot taking at each family event planted some kind of seed in my soul.
How do you market yourself?
I work closely with my rep when it comes to marketing. She has more than twenty years experience representing photographers and illustrators and has built relationships over the years with people who value her as a resource. She keeps in touch with people thru email and phone calls, as well as continually updating and circulating my portfolios. We also use direct mail for print promotions. Last year we sent out a two-sided poster featuring my taxidermy project. The poster was then featured in Communication Arts, greatly increasing the impact of the promotion. Throughout the year, we send out postcard promos, as well.
Has the slow economy changed the way you do business?
Not yet. Business has been strong since the end of last summer. I’m putting a bit more money into savings right now, but haven’t seen any effects of the slowdown so far this year.
I understand you do a lot of personal projects. How important are those to you?
I really enjoy producing these projects. I keep a list of ideas, and when I have time, I work on them. I like the freedom they allow me, and they give me an opportunity to learn more about a subject of my own choosing. I can work on my own time, set my own deadlines and take the project as far as I choose.
How important are personal projects to growth as a photographer?
From a business perspective, I think they reinforce to my clients how I see and the way I tell stories. They add to the collection of stories I enjoy telling, strengthening my body of work. I love telling real stories about real people. When successful, I learn about something or someone I have been personally interested in. That exercise enriches my life experience. I see photography as a way to experience life and understand the human condition. The results serve as a language communicating ideas. My business is based on corporate communications, and I think the base element there is human. The personal projects I shoot, tell a more personal story motivated by my own curiosity.
Have personal projects gotten you work or led to other things?
I have been assigned projects that relate directly to some personal projects I have produced, and I have picked up some new clients because of personal project promos I’ve sent out.
Please tell me about the trash project, where you photographed filthy, rusty, dirty pieces of trash found in a lake (was it a lake?). How did this come about?
The collection of artifacts I gathered at Lake Lanier and photographed has been very successful for me. They were presented as a feature in Atlanta Magazine and reproduced in a collateral piece for Interface. The images were also featured in the Cooper Carry HERE Magazine, an annual piece used primarily for recruitment by Cooper Carry Architects. The book, designed by Iconologic, has won several design awards. I earned my first appearances in the Communication Arts Photo Annual and the Graphis Photo annual with them, as well. At the time I collected the artifacts, the Southeast United States was suffering through one of the worst draughts on record. Our primary water supply in Atlanta is Lake Lanier, which was at unprecedented lows. Clean up crews were organized on a volunteer basis to collect garbage that was being revealed by the dropping water levels. I heard about their efforts and became interested in the way the lake had acted to preserve what people had discarded. I saw a story here about sustainability and human responsibility. I collected everything from tires to batteries to bottles and cans. The oldest item I could actually date was a Mello Yello bottle that was produced in the early seventies.
What has been the reception/feedback to those images?
They were well received!
One of your assignments might be considered a dream gig for some photographers: over the course of 26 days travel to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico City and other exotic cities and shoot images for an annual report. Can you tell me how you got this gig, and how much direction you were given in what to shoot? (I noticed the images on your site are all in black and white… was that a requirement)?
I actually shot this assignment while still a student at Portfolio Center. To contrast with the poor state of the global economy, SamataMason wanted to present how their client, Manpower, Inc., had continued to be a successful company. This involved traveling to a few of the more than eighty global offices they had at the time and photographing employees and street scenes. The problem was cost. The solution was giving the opportunity to a qualified student and reducing costs to expenses alone. I presented my work to SamataMason and was awarded the job. I feel that shooting that job gave me credibility that I wouldn’t otherwise have had as a photographer right out of school. I credit it with helping launch my career.
How did the editing work for this project – did you edit images down to the best then send those, or do you turn everything over to a PR firm who did their work?
I sent film back to the design firm periodically over the twenty-six days of the job. They held the film until I landed in Chicago. I dropped the film for processing and contact sheets. It was then delivered to the design firm for the designer to make her selects and scans.
Do you enjoy big assignments like that, where you are working for nearly a month away from home?
I haven’t had a job as large as that one since. I do enjoy this type of work, but it’s more comfortable when it’s about a week or ten days. As I write this, I’m at the airport, returning from a week of shooting in Trinidad and Tobago for Iconologic. This has been my third trip down over nine months. We are expecting another week down there in February. It’s always exciting meeting new people and understanding a different culture through photography.
Have any other big assignments or personal projects in the work you’d like to mention?
Last week, I was awarded an annual report job with SamataMason taking me to Stuttgart, Milan, Sao Paulo and Manaus. We also have two locations in the States. This job will be shot over two weeks. It’s going to be a great experience.
I read or heard that you shoot medium format digital. Is this true?
Depending on the job, I will shoot medium format digital or 35mm digital. I use the Canon cameras and lenses and the H1 with a Phase back.
Do you still shoot 35mm digital or film along with this?
I often bring both camera outfits on a job. One is a backup for the other, but I inevitably find some images I want to capture that lend themselves to one or the other camera. I like being overprepared, too.
What do you like about the medium format digital image?
I like the feel of the H1 in my hands. It forces me to slow down a little. Conversely, I can shoot very quickly with the more agile 35mm SLR. I’ve also been using the 5D Mark2 for the past few weeks shooting both still and hd video. I’m really impressed with it’s performance.
What’s your approach with lighting. Do you like using it?
I think it really depends on the job. I try to avoid overlighting my pictures.
What kind of modifiers and lights do you usually end up using?
I use ProFoto gear. The method for attaching the modifiers to the heads makes the most sense of any brand. Everyone carries ProFoto gear, so it’s easy to rent wherever I go. I like trying out different stuff, so although I own a basic light kit, I rent gear depending on the job.
Can we take an image, say your black and white hockey portraits, and tell me your approach to lighting – how you lit them?
Those images were assigned by Atlanta Magazine to coincide with Atlanta hosting the NHL All-Star Game last year. During the creative discussions and subsequent testing in the studio, we decided on a heroic, iconic approach. I used the ProFoto fresnel as the key light. Falloff from the key lit the seamless background and provided a nice vignette. I used two medium strip banks with fabric grids as rim lights on either side of the players. I shot those with the 80mm on my H1. I was really proud of those pictures.
Anything else you would like to mention?
This is the beginning of my sixth year, and I really feel like I’m seeing my career take shape. I’ve been focusing on bringing in the kind of projects I’ve been awarded in the past twelve months: jobs with Iconologic, SamataMason, Unboundary and various editorial assignments. I think the next five will bring more development and sophistication to my style along with the added service of shooting video. I’m beginning to explore that at the moment with a corporate project for Whirlpool.
See more of Gregory Miller’s work at his website here.
