IT’S IN MY BLOOD

Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

It was the last time I saw my grandmother. We were sitting in her room talking and catching up after not seeing each other for quite some time. She knew I had graduated and finished school, and asked what I was now doing for work. I told her that despite all those long years in grad school, in the end I followed a different path (punctuated by a timely joke about all my student loan debt). I shared details about my life as a photographer and my passion for the craft. She replied, “Oh, just like my dad.” My response was a puzzled look and an absurdly long pause, then finally, “What do you mean?” She pointed to a framed picture of a man on her dresser, “That’s my father, your great grandfather.” As I looked the first thing I noticed was that we had the same haircut - no small feat for men separated by nearly 100 years in time. I liked him. She continued to tell me all about his life as a professional photographer where they grew up in Minot, North Dakota. How most of his family still lived in Norway, and how as a child she’d play in his studio, “I’d run and weave all around the legs of his tripods and light stands.” You could tell it made her happy to reminisce.

Old B&W photo
Photographer with large format camera

So there I was, into my photo & video business for about 6 years and completely clueless until that point that I was following in the footsteps of my great grandfather. As it sunk in I started to get goosebumps. What are the odds? There’s that saying, “It’s in your blood,” but when our dads say it to us as kids we tend to dismiss it or just agree to get them to stop talking so much. But nobody ever told me that photography was in my blood, or even suggest I try it. I just happened to find it and fall in love. And so this discovery gifted me such a deep and affirming sense that I’m doing exactly what I was meant for. Being oblivious to something is an oddly wonderful way to find reassurance in your life path. While I still go back and forth wondering what combination of luck and fate this all is, I doubt the possibility I could be this happy doing anything else.

Documenting stories of love and relationship since 2011.

Bride on horse posing with photographer for photo

I’ve been capturing weddings for over a decade now, and that experience has helped me refine an aesthetic and build principles of perspective and patience that hold strong against the tides of whim and trend. I’m focused on the long game - on allowing roots the time they need to grow deep - as I believe it’s often in fullness of time that the most beautiful things are realized. Let my work be some of those deep roots for you. Images that connect you to love and family; films that expand upon moments and memory. Invitations for future generations to explore their history and see where they come from.

~ Carl S. Miller

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Claudia Kelly and Mark Sundman with wedding photographer