A surrealist with an incisive eye, finding the beauty and absurdity of everyday life. A model who posed for Vogue and sat for Pablo Picasso and Man Ray, but whose fashion career was suddenly cut short. A war photographer who embedded with the US military to chronicle the harrowing events of World War II — and posed defiantly in Hitler’s bathtub on the day of his death.

Lee Miller was an American artist who remade herself many times without straying from the principles that guided her life and career. When she died in 1977, her photographic work had largely been forgotten; her own family was unaware of the scope of her practice, and what she witnessed in the war, until they found her cache of negatives. Now, five decades later, she’s the subject of the Kate Winslet-led biopic “Lee,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, as well as a recent monograph of her work and an ongoing exhibition at mega-gallery Gagosian in New York, where some of her prints are for sale.

Her son, photographer Antony Penrose — whose father was the British surrealist painter Roland Penrose, whom Miller married in 1947 — has made it his life’s work to bring attention to his mother’s legacy. He co-directs her archive with his daughter, Ami Bouhassane, and has authored multiple books about Miller, including the most recent, “Lee Miller: Photographs.” For the past decade, he’s consulted on “Lee” as it came together, and has finally begun its run in both the United Kingdom and Spain. (A US release date has yet to be confirmed.)

“There were movies proposed and very nearly made before,” Pentose said in a video call with CNN. “This is the one that we’ve been waiting for, because I feel it is a brilliant rendition of Lee’s life, values and personality.”

He still recalls how “bewildering” it was when he and his late wife, Suzanna, found some 60,000 of her negatives and prints in their attic shortly after Miller’s death. She had developed a unique surrealist way of looking at the world, capturing everyday eccentricities that play with the viewer’s perception: a scratched-up door at a jewelry store becomes a small explosion of sparks; tar spilled on the street glistens darkly like some deep-sea or cave-bound creature.

But her range was staggering. Here was Elsa Schiaparelli supine among two cheetah sculptures, and Marlene Dietrich posing in dramatic sun in the designer’s ruched house coat. Here was a crowd of people spitting on four women, their heads shaved, as they went to trial for accusations of associating with Nazis. Here were the bodies of concentration camp victims in Dachau, and the liberated prisoners standing over a pile of human bones.

“None of us — and that includes my father — knew the scope of Lee’s work, particularly her war work,” Penrose said of his mother. “She deliberately didn’t tell him what was going on, because she didn’t want him to be worried.”

After the war, Miller struggled with depression and alcohol dependency, decades before post-traumatic stress disorder — and its symptoms — was officially recognized. When the occasional curator or art historian would turn up to better understand the depth of her work, Penrose said Miller would deflect the focus and downplay her career. It’s only been through her archive that he was able to understand the life she lived.

“It was a voyage of discovery,” Penrose added. “It was like finding a person that we had not known before — way beyond our kind of understanding and knowledge.”

Reinventing herself

For many years, Miller was remembered primarily for her modeling work in New York and with the reductive label of “muse” during her time in Paris. She sat for Pablo Picasso as he painted her in lurid yellow and green, illustrating her “extraordinary wit and liveliness… and a very bold, confrontational approach to life,” according to Jason Ysenberg, a director at Gagosian and co-curator of the gallery’s show “Lee Miller and Friends”, in a video call.

She was also often remembered — but not credited — for her portrait collaborations with Man Ray, with whom she was romantically involved and remained friends throughout her life.

“Those images of Lee were as much by Lee as by Man Ray,” added Richard Calvocoressi, the show’s other co-curator, on the call.

Miller has been described by many as a supermodel on the cusp in her early twenties, a period just before she met Man Ray. But she was seemingly blacklisted by fashion clients overnight, after a portrait of her by the photographer Edward Steichen was licensed for a Kotex ad promoting menstrual products.

“She absolutely came to a crash stop. Nobody wanted the Kotex girl modeling their frocks,” Penrose said. “She didn’t even know that the photograph was going to be used for that purpose — it was bought through an agency.”

Though Miller used the setback as a sign to shift her practice, sexist social structures continued to shape her career. Art historians and curators of the 20th century relegated female surrealists — many of whom appear in Miller’s images, like the painter Leonora Carrington and the photographer Dora Maar — to the sidelines of the movement when they were, in actuality, crucial figures; Penrose recalls that his own father referred to them more as “muses” than artists in their own right, despite their prolific outputs.

But despite the imbalances within their group, Miller’s time with her friends ahead of World War II was seemingly idyllic. She’d left Paris in 1932 for New York when her relationship with Man Ray ended, and then unexpectedly married Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey and moved to Cairo. When she spent the summer of 1937 back in Paris and met Penrose, it sparked a two-year affair (and series of love letters when they were apart), that eventually resulted in the dissolution of her marriage.

Some of Miller’s emblematic images of the period show their vacations across the south of France from beach outings with Penrose, Picasso and Maar and the model Ady Fidelin, to a picnic that has drawn comparisons to Édouard Manet’s famed painting “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” as a topless Fidelin is pictured alongside Man Ray, the poet Paul Éluard and artist Nusch Éluard.

But as Ysenberg points out, the tumult of the era had already begun — Nazism brewed in Germany and the Spanish Civil War broke out, prompting Picasso’s monumental and career-defining work “Guernica” which was painted the same year Miller returned to Paris.

“It was a community that in the sense that they were friends and lovers,” Ysenberg explained. “It seemed a very carefree time for them in a very kind of in a in a world that was changing very quickly.”

She saw ‘what we’re missing’

Many artists fled Europe in the 1940s, and Miller could have gone back to New York to safety, Penrose said. But she’d settled down with Roland in London and refused to leave, instead becoming a photojournalist for British Vogue, documenting women who were contributing to the war efforts, and taking both fashion and street images during the Blitz.

Later, she was accredited as an official correspondent with the US armed forces — one of just four such female photographers. During this period, in Normandy and in Munich she worked closely with the Life photojournalist David E. Scherman. Together, they entered Hitler’s apartment with soldiers on April 30, 1945, the same day that Hitler shot himself in his bunker in Berlin. Just that morning, Miller and Scherman had taken photographs in Dachau; Miller tracked mud from the concentration camp all over the apartment’s floor before stripping down to pose in the bathtub. She took the same photo of Scherman, who was Jewish, as well.

“Those boots carried her that that morning around the concentration camp, and now she’s grinding the filth of that place into Hitler’s nice clean bathroom,” Penrose said. “They prove that she’s not there as a guest in his house. She’s a victor.”

Even as Miller faced the harrowing effects of the war across Europe — sights that would take a toll on her in its aftermath — she still maintained her keen artist’s eye. After all, she believed there was nothing “more surrealist, more mad, more nightmarish” than the war, according to Calvocoressi.

“Even in the most dangerous and demanding circumstances, she’s still looking out for weird, quirky images,” Penrose said. “I find that that so endearing — the hallmark of her artistry is just to see what we’re missing.”

Miller took her last assignment for Vogue in the early 1950s, as Penrose notes that she could no longer meet deadlines because of her declining mental health. But she didn’t stop photographing, taking some 1,000 photographs of Picasso as Roland worked on his biography, which published in 1958.

Penrose said that throughout the course of her career, she was always “looking for the metaphor” in her surroundings. Of the many poetic moments she captured, one took place in front of the Vienna Opera House in Austria’s capital in late 1945 amid the lingering destruction of war. Framed by twisted metal support beams and rubble, the soprano Irmgard Seefried is photographed singing an aria from the Italian opera “Madame Butterfly,” in what Penrose believes to be an image set up by Miller — who captured her with arms outstretched, completely in silhouette.

“In a way, it’s a reversal, because you would have expected the singer to be beautifully lit from all kinds of sources.” Penrose explained.

“Gone is the costume. gone is any kind of glamorization… what we have is this absolute passion, about the triumph of art over destruction.”

Videographer and PetaPixel reader Andreas Hofmarcher sent a voice message to the PetaPixel Podcast and Andreas’ story is so incredible that it warranted a dedicated article.

Although his primary focus is videography, Andreas has done some photoshoots for clients before, including for a local businessman he hadn’t heard from in the last three years.

“He organizes specially-themed children’s birthday parties and was closed because of COVID. I did a few photoshoots for him years back — fun shoots but very low budget,” Hofmarcher tells PetaPixel.

“His photographer called in sick, and so he needed someone on very short notice. First, I was thinking of giving this job to someone else but in the end, I had time, a camera, and wanted to help out.”

As it turns out, the child was not the only person who left the party with a gift.

“So I went and had a lot of fun,” Hofmarcher explains. “The theme was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and everyone was dressed up and played games. They had pancakes, make-up stations, a disco, and, of course, presents.”

After a few hours of taking photos of the event and having a good time, the videographer-turned-photographer was ready to pack up and head home.

“But then the grandpa of the birthday child came over and told me he wanted to give me an old camera that has just been lying around for the last ten years that no one is using anymore,” Hofmarcher recalls.

Andreas thought it might be “an old DSLR, film camera, or maybe even a point-and-shoot.” All safe bets. However, his expectations were way off the mark.

“So we went to his office, and I knew that something special might be waiting for me. There was an Atmos watch on the shelf, a tiger-skin carpet on the floor, loads of pictures of him with politicians, and travel photos from around the world in golden frames.”

“He took a huge backpack out of the wardrobe. He opened it, and I took a glance inside. There was a huge camera body with an attached lens, and as I took it out — it weighs about one and a half Nocts [Andreas really is a podcast listener!] — I read the words ‘Phase One.’”

While Andreas mostly does video work, he says it’s about an 80/20 split between video and photo, he has heard of Phase One and knew “something special” was now in his hands.

“I tried to convince him that he still could use, sell, or give the camera to his kids and that I couldn’t possibly take this camera,” Hofmarcher says. The older gentleman insisted, and so Andreas took the camera.

The backpack’s complete contents are as follows: Phase One 645DF camera body, a Mamiya Aptus Leaf II 12 digital back, three Schneider Kreuznach LS lenses, a digital light meter, gray card, four batteries, three CF cards, firewire cables, and instruction manuals.

“It took quite some time for me to figure out how even to start the camera and how to work it. I took it with me to some regular shootings,” Hofmarcher tells PetaPixel. Hofmarcher captured the photos in this article with his new gift.

Given the age of the camera, as evidenced by the inclusion of old-school CompactFlash cards and firewire cables, even opening the files proved a bit challenging. “Lightroom does not recognize the files, so I had to install Capture One. But I also found that I could open the files in Luminar Neo. But man, my computer is working hard to open them!”

The digital back was introduced at Photokina in 2010 and was the world’s first 80-megapixel image sensor. At the time, it cost $32,000. The camera body is even older.

The large sensor’s ISO ranges from 50 to 800, which is very limited by 2023 standards, and it can shoot a photo every 1.5 seconds or so. It also only has a single autofocus point.

The Aptus Leaf II 12 back sports a large 53.7 x 40.3-millimeter image sensor, putting a full-frame camera’s 36 x 24mm sensor to shame. It’s also larger than modern mirrorless medium-format cameras, like the Fujifilm GFX 100 II and Hasselblad X2D 100C, which have roughly 44 x 33mm imagers.

“But on the other hand — I got noticed walking around with such a big camera. I had to stop and think about the pictures. It slowed me down but in a good way. And everybody else took pictures on their phone. I even asked strangers if I could take their pictures, and I wouldn’t do that with my other camera when it’s not an official gig. But somehow, the camera elevated my confidence,” Hofmarcher adds.

It is a far cry from his normal setup of Canon EOS R-series cameras, like the EOS R5, R7, and R10. “My goal is to have a very small footprint and travel very light,” he says. The Phase One and Aptus combo is certainly not small and light.

“I reached out to the PetaPixel Podcast to ask what I should do. Keep the camera and see what I can do with it or sell it and get some upgrades for my paid video work? The consensus has been that I should probably sell it, but I’m still undecided,” Hofmarcher writes. “What would you do? How much is this gear even worth nowadays?”

As for the latter question, and assuming that Hofmarcher’s new-to-him gear is in “good” condition, the camera, digital back, and lenses are worth only $2,650, according to reputable used gear retailer MPB. Changing the condition to “Like new” moves the value to $3,215.

When the gear was brand-new, the story was dramatically different. The lenses are not the latest “Blue Ring” versions, so information is scarce, but it appears that they ranged in price from about $2,000 to $5,000 when new. The Phase One 645DF body was just under $6,000, and as Hofmarcher mentioned, the Mamiya Aptus Leaf II — 12 back was $31,995. Although it is challenging to nail down a precise cost, in 2010, a photographer would’ve shelled out nearly $50,000 for that equipment, not counting memory cards, the light meter, and other accessories.

Frankly, the current used market is underwhelming and reflects a nearly 25 times reduction in value. Although a private sale would likely net Hofmarcher more revenue than a bulk sale to a retailer, that is brutal depreciation.

It is hard to imagine that the gear is worth more now to anyone else than it could be to Hofmarcher. After all, the photographer said the gear has given him more confidence, and putting a price on that is hard. Besides, it’s a fantastic story of generosity and the beautiful surprises sometimes in store for photographers during gigs.

Image credits: Photos courtesy of Andreas Hofmarcher

Shopping for someone whose love of taking pictures is bumping up against the creative constraints of their iPhone’s camera roll? There’s a whole world of photography gifts and gear out there, but you don’t need to spring for an expensive new camera body to get a gift that counts. If you’d like to stay well, well below the $1,000 threshold you’d spend on a new mirrorless digital camera, these fun options prioritize play and can expand anyone’s photography horizons.

As far as hobbies go, photography is extremely personal —  everyone has their own style, preferences and gear setup. Personally, I started shooting around two decades ago with an old 35mm camera passed down from my grandfather (a now-ancient Canon AE-1 — these used to be everywhere!) and still prefer the simplicitly of relatively rustic equipment.

As a hobbyist who mostly shoots adventure and nightsky photos (outside of work-related photojournalism) and occasionally sells my prints, I’ve tested all kinds of camera equipment, including DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, action cameras and many, many lenses. These days I mostly shoot digital, but film and physical prints are making a comeback, a trend our gift guide makes ample note of.

For anyone experimenting with photography and looking to get out of the smartphone shooting mindset, film and instant photography offer an exciting, tactile starting place.

Price: $79 at Amazon

In recent years, social media’s prevailing aesthetic has shifted from perfect and polished to something a lot more casual that hearkens back to the heyday of the Polaroid. After dying an untimely death, Polaroid is back, thankfully, but Fujifilm seems to be having the most fun in instant photography at the moment.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 is the perfect embodiment of that. The camera isn’t very expensive and doesn’t take itself too seriously, with a toy-like design that would be at home in the back of a Twitch streamer’s pastel dreamscape. The format is a little smaller than a classic Polaroid, but the film is readily available and still captures the fun and serendipity of printing photos on the fly.

Price: $33 at Amazon

If you’ve got an aspiring content creator on your gift list — or anyone who just wants better vacation shots — Joby’s line of tripods will instantly up their game. This GorillaPod, designed for smartphones, lets you safely mount your phone just about anywhere so you can take advantage of its higher-resolution front-facing camera. The flexibility can be useful at home too, say for shooting content for that close-up magic YouTube channel or funky fungi crochet craft TikTok.

Price: $295 at Amazon

Image Credits: GoPro

GoPro is synonymous with action photography for a reason. These cameras are tough, tiny, designed from scratch for extreme environments and fast-paced adventure. If you want to record a surfing session or an epic snowboard line, GoPro is the industry standard for a reason. They take great stills and video considering the circumstances and the little boxy cameras can be bought with a slew of accessories that make them even more indispensable, from mounts and grips to flotation devices. If you’d like to save some cash buying a GoPro, check out a model from a year or two ago (the GoPro Hero 12 Black is the current model) — the best deals in photography are often on cameras from a few years ago that manufacturers keep in stock. This same logic applies to pretty much all cameras and camera bodies, so keep that in mind if you’re after a good deal.

Price: $219

Price: $90

Photography gear is personal, but so are bags (as every TechCrunch bag week makes abundantly clear). Everyone has different preferences for what they want out of a backpack, messenger or sling. On the other hand, no one is ever mad about having too many bags for strategically lugging different combinations of stuff to various far-flung places. Peak Design is well-known in the photography community for painstakingly designed camera bags and accessories, but also check out Wandrd for what we think are cooler-looking packs with plenty of nooks and crannies for gear. Both brands have an array of options across price points, from small hip belt packs for a single extra lens to backpacks that fit a whole suite of gear on the go.

Price: $234 at Amazon

Photo credits: Fujifilm

Okay, we already talked about another of Fujifilm’s instant cameras but this one is in a class of its own. The Instax Mini Evo takes a different approach to instant photography, adding in a ton of filters and relatively sophisticated options without undermining the point and click ease that makes instant photos so fun. The Instax Mini Evo works as a traditional instant camera like its siblings, but it offers one big twist. Instead of shooting and printing immediately, you can shoot and then select which photo you’d like to print out — a huge boon considering how many poorly framed instant photos we’ve printed while trying to get the right shot. You also can use the Mini Evo like a standalone instant photo printer, sending smartphone photos to the device wirelessly to print out your best shots. Sure it’s cheating, but it’s also really flexible and fun — and that’s what photography is all about.

Image Credits: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

Vintage camera (variable)

If you take the dreamy, grainy photography trend to its logical conclusion, why not just rewind back to film? Like instant photos, film photography is making a comeback — and for good reason. Shooting with film feels nothing like taking a million snaps on an iPhone. The process slows you down, forces you to be deliberate and the shots wind up feeling that much more special. For a really special camera gift for the retro aesthetic appreciator, head to your local vintage camera store and pick up a 35mm camera and some good film. You could shop online, but browsing in person if you’ve got an old-school store nearby parallels the tactile charm of film photography. Either way, you’ll help keep film photography shops in business and wind up with a thoughtful, one of a kind gift.

Check out some of our other 2023 gift guides:

Growing as a photographer is not an easy or obvious thing to do. This particularly insightful video is here to help, though, offering practical advice for photographers seeking to elevate their craft, regardless of whether they are beginners or long-time enthusiasts.

Coming to you from Ted Forbes with The Art of Photography, this fantastic video discusses how to grow as a photographer. Forbes divides the discussion into two parts: a mindset shift and actionable steps. He emphasizes the importance of being specific in goals and understanding personal limitations. For example, one might focus on mastering a particular type of subject matter or experimenting with specific lighting techniques. He argues that growth in photography often involves self-imposed constraints. This concept is illustrated through ideas such as a challenge by photographer Keith Carter to take 12 compelling photographs within a mile of one’s home and Forbes’ personal experience of limiting himself to a rangefinder and a 50mm lens for an entire year. These constraints, he explains, can lead to more creative problem-solving and a deeper understanding of one’s tools.

Analyzing and understanding one’s work is another key point. Spending time with your own photographs, questioning what could be improved, and learning from each shot can significantly elevate a photographer’s skills. Forbes also stresses the importance of being inspired by others’ work. He encourages photographers to explore and learn from both the historical and contemporary photography scene and other creative fields like art, literature, and cinema. He suggests finding a mentor or taking workshops, which can provide guidance and accelerate learning.

Altogether, Forbes offers a lot of valuable insight sure to help you improve. Check out the video above for the full rundown.

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Rapid City Arts Council (RCAC) is seeking submissions for the 20th Annual Dahl Mountain Photo Competition + Exhibit, a juried photography exhibition based on mountain culture. All submissions are due by Friday, January 19. The exhibit will be on display from February 23 through April 20 in the Inez & Milton Shaver Gallery and the Denise Du Broy Gallery at the Dahl Arts Center.

Submissions for this show should capture the essence of mountain culture lifestyle, encompassing the ideas, beliefs, and values shared by individuals immersed in such environments. Whether it’s the Black Hills region or any other mountainous terrain, the content should reflect the unique way of life shaped by these landscapes.

Judges (professional regional photographers) will select the show through a blind jury process. There are three exhibit categories – Youth (18 and under), Adult Amateur/Hobbyist, and Adult Experienced/Professional. Judges will award First, Second, and Third places in each category as well as a Best of Show Award.

Award amounts are as follows: 

∙ Youth (18 and under) 1st – $75 | 2nd – $50 | 3rd – $25 

∙ Adult Amateur/Hobbyist (over 18) 1st – $75 | 2nd – $50 |3rd – $25

∙ Adult Experienced/Professional (over 18) 1st – $100 | 2nd – $75 |3rd – $50 

∙ Best of Show Award—$125 

∙ People’s Choice Award—$100

The submission process is entirely online, please visit thedahl.org/dahlmtnphoto to submit your application.