Wayne F. Miller - Photographer

VAV!/May 22, 2013 Photographer Wayne F. Miller, noted for his brilliant series of photographs chronicling The Way of Life of the Northern Negro, (now sheltered in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Smithsonian Institution), died Wednesday, May 22, 2013. He was 94. During his long career, Miller was among the first photographers to document iconic WWII photos, including the destruction at Hiroshima. He has also produced "The Family of Man" and was a contributor of photography for Dr. Benjamin Spock's "A Baby's First Year." More: Miller was born in Chicago in 1918 and studied banking at the University of Illinois at Urbana while pursuing photography as a side between 1941 to 1942 where he studied at the Art Center School of Los Angeles.  He later served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy where he was assigned to legendary photographer, Edward Steichen's World War II U.S. Navy Combat Photo Unit. After returning home to Chicago, Miller was awarded two consecutive Guggenheim fellowships between 1946-1948 for his work on The Way of Life of the Northern Negro. He also worked with Edward Steichen again in the 1950s as an associate curator for The Family of Man exhibition and book at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Miller  served as a photojournalist among many magazines including for Life, Ebony, and the Saturday Evening Post. During the 1970's, Miller's new found focus was on the preservation of California's redwood forests while helping lobby for of laws to protect them. A man with a brilliant vision has died...leaving a legacy as one of America's most extraordinary social documentary photographer's of the 20th century.