Miriam Miller // New York City, NY

My connection with Miriam is in a roundabout way through Rodney Smith, my all-time favorite photographer. Though I never had the opportunity to meet him, I have always been fascinated with his work. The biggest compliment I get for this project is when someone sees his influence in my work.

I have this weird fear of reaching out to “blue check mark” verified Instagram users; not that I don’t feel my work is good enough, but rather because there’s this celebrity-air status about that verification process. So when I reached out to Miriam initially, I did so with great trepidation. Unfortunately, we didn’t connect, and I visited and left NYC without having the opportunity to shoot with her.

Fast forward 6 months later, and I’m planning another trip to NYC. That same week of purchasing my hotel and airplane ticket, I was browsing Rodney’s Instagram. Suddenly, I realized that he had photographed Miriam, and I freaked out a little bit. Here’s an opportunity to meet someone that has been photographed by my photographic hero… if only I can gain access to her.

So once again, I sent Miriam a message in the hopes that she might somehow see it. Sure enough, this time she responded almost instantly, apologizing that she never saw the message the first time. True to form, she receives lots of messages (being a blue check mark ballerina that is), and mine was lost amongst the loud noise that can be Instagram. She had seen my work pass through her feed, and was very much up to shooting, even trying to channel a bit of Rodney Smith.

This shoot happened to be our second shoot together. I asked if she would be willing to ride a penny-farthing bike. A what? A penny-farthing bike: the penny-farthing bike got its name from its two differently-sized wheels, with the front wheel likened to a penny coin and the much smaller rear wheel compared to a farthing (a quarter of a penny). Typically, you’ll see them with a 60” front wheel diameter, but I was able to find a bike rental company that has a smaller sized bike.

The morning we arrived together at the bike rental shop in Lower East Manhattant, I was scheduled to leave to the airport within three hours, so we were pressed for time. I had also made the mistake of not renting the bicycle until the morning of the shoot, and the rental shop needed about 45 minutes to get the bike down. *insert face palm* 100% my fault, I acknowledge. Therefore, we were suddenly even more pressed for time, and I wasn’t able to take the bike to Central Park, like I had initially wished. Lucky for us, though, there was a beautiful basketball court right across the street, with the most perfect lighting.

That’s oftentimes how it is, though. Put yourself in a (first) position to succeed, and you just might succeed. I had the ballerina, a bicycle, and her hat - and we succeeded in pulling off the entire shoot in 35 minutes.

September 13, 2021