Famed photographer/director Mike Miller has worked with some of the most iconic 90’s supermodels, photographed hundreds of major-label album covers from all genres of music from Tupac, Nick Cave to Herb Albert. Recently photographed and directed YG, A$AP, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Jeezy.
Currently working with Ferrari and collaborations with Retna, Shepard Fairey among others…, clients include Angelina Jolie, Jack Nicholson, Cameron Diaz, James Franco, Sony, Nike, Puma, MTV Video Awards, Coca~Cola, Stussy etc…
Miller’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including a recent show at the New York City Public Library. Miller’s work has been added to The Getty Black Book and is now featured in The Smithsonian, as well.
In his recent book, West Coast Hip Hop: A History in Pictures, he presents just what the title implies. A reportage of his iconic images coving the golden age of rap.
More on Mike from KCET TV:
Miller grew up on the Westside, attending Santa Monica public schools while living in Malibu, back when he says it was still “really country.” His teen years were impeccably timed; not only was he classmates with Rob Lowe and Sean Penn, but as an avid skater and surfer, Miller ended up befriending members of the Dogtown skating crew, the Z-Boys, especially Tony Alva.
Miller graduated from UCLA in the mid 1980s and decamped for Europe, first to compete in downhill skiing before ending up in Paris, where he briefly made ends meet by painting houses. His entry into photographer was a bit of a fluke, he says. He and a friend, “were after one thing and it [was] to date models and it’s where my photography first started.” Whatever his original motives, Miller quickly proved gifted for the craft and within months, was traveling across Europe to shoot campaigns for Cacharel and other major fashion houses.
When he returned home to L.A., his fashion work caught the eye of record labels such as EMI and by the late 1980s, he was shooting artists as varied as girl rockers The Go-Go’s and Heart, to jazz players such as Stan Getz and Herb Alpert. Miller, however, grew up a hip-hop fan, listening to 1580 AM, KDAY, the first 24 hour hip-hop station in the country. As a teen, he used to spin late-night shows on KBOO, literally an underground radio station housed in a Malibu basement. In 1989, he snapped his first rap-related cover, for the original N.W.A. group member, Arabian Prince and his debut solo album. That began Miller’s long history of shooting the key figures on the West Coast rap scene, thoroughly compiled in “West Coast Hip-Hop” and the subject of his in-progress documentary about the influence of this region’s hip-hop culture on the rest of the world.
“West Coast Hip-Hop” includes extensive background testimonials to almost all the photos, providing crucial personal and historical context.
Check out Mike’s YouTube Video HERE.