Paul C. Miller

Paul C. Miller was born in San Francisco in 1967 and grew up in rural Sonoma County. He first became interested in photography when he discovered a trunk of old 16mm films shot by his grandfather during WWII. Often the films would break from the heat of the projector, and he, along with his brother and sister, would splice them together, leaving out a few frames to examine against the light. His fascination with the beauty and mystery of the still image is what inspires his photography today, whether it be a documentary project, a wedding, or a family portrait.

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 1992, he moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he met his wife, the painter Inna Talantova. She introduced him to a community of artists who squatted in an abandoned downtown apartment building named after its address "Pushkinskaya 10." One of Inna's close friends was an Orthodox priest who lived in a remote monastery north of St. Petersburg on the island of Valaam. Father Boris invited Paul to join him on his trip back to the monastery, where he spent three weeks photographing the everyday lives of the monks and the evening church services that often lasted until dawn.

He went on to work as a freelance photographer for news bureaus in Moscow, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Chicago Tribune.

He and his wife and daughter moved back to California in 2002 and currently live in the town of Monte Rio on the Russian River. Paul continues to pursue personal projects along with his work as a portrait and event photographer.