Chris Milliman – Photographer

Hanover, New Hampshire-based photographer, Chris Milliman had recently returned from shooting at Belgium’s Paris-Roubaix Classic, when I had the pleasure of meeting him and slowly flipping through his portfolio. Milliman is most widely known for his evocative cycling photography, but his interests in photography are much broader.

While chatting with Milliman and savoring his photographs, I was drawn in by his use of light, and his simple, yet well thought out, compositions. They puled me in and made me question, “what’s going on here, what is that person in the photo thinking, where was this taken?” Not just another bunch of pretty pictures, they are photos that set my imagination a-fire.

Milliman has been fortunate enough to take editorial photographs of some of the world’s most prestigious cycling races, and of the best pro riders. He also shoots commercial photography for leading cycling brands. His cycling pictures depict a side of bicycle racing that the spectator rarely sees. His truthful, clean perspective sets him apart from other cycling photographers. I think that he’s able to capture these little moments so perfectly because besides being super visual, he is a cyclist himself.

Using a large format camera and film (remember film?), Milliman takes only a handful of images per shoot, carefully relying on his unique eye for composition, light and subject matter. Chris “believes in never taking the same picture twice, and definitely not three times. Photography is a passion for him because it’s always in flux, it is watching life and all of its motion.”

Beyond cycling, Chris turns his thoughtful lens to fashion, travel, landscape, ski and snowmobile racing shoots. It was a real pleasure hearing the stories behind the pictures he showed me. I look forward to seeing some recent photos taken of women cyclists when they become public. Below are some of my favorites. If you want to see bigger photos, and more of them, click here, or click here to visit his blog.

All photos copyright Chris Milliman

P.S. I have a new ‘Poppy Gall Design’ facebook page. “Like” it to see what sorts of projects I’m working on and to be an interactive part of my design studio.