jody miller

I have been a photographer most of my life. I was first handed a Brownie box camera by my father at the age of nine, then got serious about photography in my late teens. In the intervening 35 years, I have shot, developed, printed and lost untold thousands of images, a very few of which I have recently resurrected thanks to the wonders of Photoshop and a good scanner.
My biggest photographic catharsis was studying at the 1982 Ansel Adams workshop in Carmel, California during the last year that Ansel was able to actually teach (he died in April 1984). Talk about a life-changing experience! It was a transcendental 10 days. I continued to study privately for the next two years with one of the instructors, and it helped shape the vision and approach to image-making that I use today.
I have never actually worked as a professional photographer; photography has always been a passionate hobby. I work in the television industry in Hollywood as an art director and animator; this has melded beautifully with my favorite pastime.
My introduction to flickr, and then Utata, was recent but also life-changing. Our community has come to mean a great deal to me in the relatively short few months since I discovered it. To have this wonderfully civil and erudite group of people to relate to, share ideas and images with, and argue with occasionally has meant the world to me.

Portfolio

Portraits

Photo Journalism

Projects

Landscapes

Stock Photography

Artist's Statement

I create my landscapes out of a deep need to connect with beauty: not only classic and romantic beauty (although romanticism is present in my work) but also the mysterious and haunting beauty of a bleak or terrible landscape. I want to connect with the viewer through our mutual recognition of that beauty. That drive to connect with beauty is ever present within me and overpowering in its persistence. My photographs may be wide in scope but always invite the viewer in to explore the details. I call them "intimate landscapes".

My work is never purely representational; I try to present to the viewer the idealized world I see in my "mind's eye". I bring my painting skills to the medium in a way that enhances the image without overpowering the impression that it is a photograph. Normally, the "painting" work I do on a photograph is done to enhance the power of the light within the frame and accentuate the image's "inner glow". The goal of my enhancement is to transcend the everyday objective look at a landscape or subject and make it more meaningful and memorable to the viewer by inviting a closer look.

In the creation of my series "The Salton Sea", the experience of the sea itself transformed me and the way i see. I was so moved by the vast beauty of the land and water and the devastating state of the shores in decay and ruin, that I felt compelled to communicate a caring vision of this haunting place by emphasizing its beauty, even in its decay. I have become an advocate for saving the Salton Sea and restoring its shores. I endeavor with these photographs to convey some of that feeling of advocacy and hope.

Favorite Photos (of mine)

Utata Member Page for jody miller