Spotlight: Greg Miller
What else is a picture trying to tell us?
Every picture has a story.
You know by now that I love hearing photographers talk about their work. Yet, surprisingly few imagemakers have leveraged the power of the internet to publish audio stories that feature their photography. I want to do more of that here in FlakPhoto Digest, and I hope some of you will consider recording a story for me at some point. Tim Davis sent one a few weeks ago, and it was pretty terrific. You can listen to him riff on Bruegel, attention, and walking with earbuds here:
I’m experimenting with a new format — A Spotlight feature that showcases works from photographers I admire. (I kicked this off with a post about Dawoud Bey last month.) I plan to write more of these because I like highlighting the people who inspire me, and it’s a great way to drive some eyes to their photography. Please drop me a line if there’s someone you think I should write about. Thanks in advance!
I’m excited about today’s Spotlight because it features a multimedia project from one of our great large-format street photographers, Greg Miller. Have you listened to Greg’s Photo Phonica? It’s wonderful. Here’s how he describes it:
Welcome to Photo Phonica! A podcast that explores the sound behind photographs. I would call myself a people photographer and a visual storyteller. For a while now, I have been thinking about telling stories in a new way by creating audio around a single photograph. Making pictures is so much about putting a frame around the world and excluding everything else. I believe this is where photography gets its power — from what’s included within the frame and what’s excluded. Recently I have become increasingly more interested in the story outside the frame. What else is a picture trying to tell us? This is the idea behind Photo Phonica: to start with a single photograph and listen to the sounds and voices within and around that picture.
Cool, right?
Photographs are mysterious because they inherently lack context. I like the puzzle pictures present, but when I see a great image, I usually want to know more about it. What’s going on here? What does it mean? What is the story? Photo Phonica is focused on what lies outside the frame. What Greg does is special. I think you’ll dig it.
I asked if we could publish one of Greg’s stories in FlakPhoto Digest because I admire his work and want more people to know about it. To begin with, here is some background on the project. Greg emailed with its origin story a while back:
I have always loved telling stories from my childhood or behind the making of pictures, but only those around me hear them — family, friends, or students. I thought if I had a podcast, more people could listen to my stories and the stories of people in my pictures.
Photo Phonica started in 2018 when I was commissioned to photograph the March for Our Lives in Washington, DC. I was teamed up with two intrepid audio reporter interns to do a “man on the street” style story interviewing people attending the march. My pictures ran with a small piece of audio embedded into the page.
When I returned home from NPR, all I could think about was creating audio to go with images or, the other way around, pictures that went with audio. I began recording and watching hundreds of YouTube videos on how to create good-sounding audio. I interviewed my good friend, Russ, a great storyteller, poet, stonemason, and former school bus driver. I photographed him building a stone wall and combined that image with his childhood story of losing his dog. Russ was very open and vulnerable in his interview, and I was able to piece together my first episode.
I built the website in 2021 with the help of my ever-reliable web designer, Tom Hole, in the UK. Since then, I have made six episodes and have more in the works. I love it, but I have not been as punctual with getting the episodes out as I had envisioned. Luckily, I’m the boss. I haven’t gotten fired yet for turning in a late episode.
Greg graciously agreed to publish one of his audio stories here. He made this picture, Steeplechase Pier, 1991, when he was a younger man, and it’s fascinating to hear him reflect on an image he made all those years ago. Make some time to expand the fullscreen photo, sit still, and look closely while you listen — it’s a good one.
What’d you think?
I turned 45 this year, so Greg’s story resonated with me. I can’t seem to stop thinking about who I was in my twenties. Photography has a funny way of doing that — reminding you of who you are and who you were. That’s what I love about this story: hearing Greg reflect on how his life is “made up of a bunch of little lifetimes” really nails it. And learning that someone who made a career out of making portraits realize he was terrified of people when he was starting out made me smile.
Steeplechase Pier, 1991 looks like a painting — good photography can make even the tiniest moments dramatic. The picture is a document but paired with this recording, it’s a deeply engaging meditation on Greg’s inner life as a young artist and a seasoned craftsman. Whoever said, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” never heard Greg’s podcast. Pictures are richer when we know more about them.
Greg emailed recently to say that he’s releasing a new story very soon. Make sure you get on his email list so you don’t miss it. This, too, for those of you who make portraits — Greg is teaching a week-long workshop, The Narrative Street Portrait, in Maine next month. Check it out!
About the photographer
Greg Miller is an American fine art photographer and audio producer using the serendipity of chance meetings with strangers and large-format street photography to build insightful, narrative photographs and audio stories.
Miller is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a freelance contributor to National Public Radio, TIME, and over 100 other publications.
His monograph, Unto Dust, a photographic meditation on New Yorkers observing Ash Wednesday, was published in 2018.
Miller was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and now lives in Northeastern Connecticut with his wife and two daughters.
One more thing…
The good folks at Hoxton Mini Press are looking for two new book-obsessed, photography-loving people to join their team. I’m a big fan of Martin Usborne and his work with this imprint. Their books are consistently excellent, and I own a few of them. HMP is hiring an Editor and a Production Controller this summer. The application deadline is July 5, 2023. Please share these links!
Okay, that’s all for this week. Let me know what you thought about this post, and please write me with your project updates anytime. Have a great weekend!
I could probably stare at Steeplechase Pier, 1991 for another hour. Brilliant.
The added commentary is fantastic