Meet Mitch Miller | Landscape Photographer and Workshop Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mitch Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mitch, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Persistence.

My three most popular landscape photographs are:

“Flare”, in which I camped close to my intended location, awoke before first light, travelled a few miles then searched for an inviting foreground of flowers, then waited for sunrise. I captured the scene on multiple, different exposures then chose the one that best reflected my memory, with as much detail and color throughout the tonal range as possible.

“Reach”, wherein I endured the 105 deg F heat one summer afternoon to find a foreground that evoked a whimsical notion; Joshua trees caught mid-pose, stretching before a monsoon sunset.

“Upload”; I had been in Joshua Tree National Park since 5 a.m. because two storms were predicted that day. By 3 p.m. I needed a nap, but the wind of the second storm was shaking the car so badly, I couldn’t sleep. I looked out and saw the most unusual cloud ever, alarmed and trying to escape another cloud, dark and foreboding. Later I turned the sky black and white, and it won first place in competition.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Years ago I became passionate about wilderness, where man is merely a visitor, and we do our best to leave it as we found it, for generations to follow, enjoy, and also find peace and inspiration. I made it my mission to instill in others this same appreciation for wild places, through photography. Along the way, I studied Web design, and my favorite class was “The Principles and Elements of Design”. This class that was not about photography taught me why I kept the transparencies (slide film) I kept, and threw away the others. It was “the formula”. It was about composition.

It is anything but easy selling landscape photography. You have to make it simple and pleasant for the viewer to see what you want them to see, and preferably feel what you felt when you created the photograph. Emotional connections are what sell photography, and finding or creating that can be difficult, but it helps drive me to do my best.

I’ve often heard it said the best photographs capture a moment. I took that to a different level, and attempt to capture time through my Dimension of Time series in which I’ll retain color in what’s alive, and turn black and white anything deceased, inanimate or dormant. It accents the fourth dimension, of time. I’ll also combine two moments at one scene, on one night, in much of my night sky photography.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Joshua Tree. If a friend were to come visit we would hike Joshua Tree National Park. I’d take them to Kitchen in the Desert for shrimp and margaritas in Twentynine Palms, and the 29 Palms Inn for Sunday brunch. But after a hike we’d go more casual with Blues burgers at the Joshua Tree Saloon. Best breakfast locally; gotta be Country Kitchen omelettes and bacon!

For a casual stroll not in the national park, I love the Morongo Canyon preserve, especially in the fall with the colors in the cottonwoods. I have a large metal print hanging at Just a Small Town Grill in Morongo Valley, and I enjoy their sandwiches.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents introduced me to camping and hiking in Yosemite, the redwoods and Pinnacles National Monument when I was a child. I remember my mother explaining to me the dangerous rapids in the Tuolumne River a five year-old must avoid. I can recall sitting in the San Joaquin River at about the same age, pulling out every beautiful rock I could carry. I fell in love with trees and rocks.

I worked with a nuclear physicist in the 1980’s, who was very much into ‘peak bagging’, which is hiking to mountain summits, signing the register, and keeping track of your achievements. I loved hiking! But to his dismay I began taking more and more photos and slowed us both down. He went his way, I went mine, which was adventure photography that evolved into landscape photography. I began to stop more often, and savor not just the views, but the details in the landscape, too.

I also credit photographer David Muench for inspiring me to go further into the wilderness, and chase my dream of photography.

Website: https://www.FineEarthPhotography.com

Instagram: @fineearthphotography

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FineEarthPhotography

Youtube: Fine Earth Photography by Mitch Miller

Image Credits
Mitch Miller | Fine Earth Photography