*This is my first blog post

It only took me about four years to get to this point. But life has a way of getting in the way. And when your decision to start taking your business to the next level coincides with the birth of your daughter, things start speeding up like that snowball rolling downhill.

Julia Summer Millman: March 25th, 2012

Since I was a little kid growing up in West Orange, NJ music has always been my obsession. From a very young age I can remember sitting on the floor in the living room listening to my dad’s albums, 8-tracks and cassettes. The music of The Band, Eagles, Carol King, The Who and The Beatles mixed with the latest Disco tracks. And as soon as I was given my first little “boom box,” I was off to the races having my Uncle Joseph buy me tapes of The Fab Four and Queen from his good friend, the legendary Crazy Eddie. But once I heard my friend Pat’s older brother’s albums: The Kids Are Alright, Sticky Fingers, Are You Experienced, Zeppelin II, The Doors 13 my world changed for good. Music became my first true obsession.

As I grew up, I started to enjoy taking photos. I was too young and distracted to understand the difference between making an image and taking a picture. But watching my dad’s slides that he shot on his Nikon F and Honeywell Pentax was a favorite activity in our home. And if not for my distracted nature [today called ADHD], I might have delved more deeply into the process than my flirtations at sleep-away camp.

In 2006 I met my wife, Robyn momentarily at a Donavon Frankenreiter concert at Irving Plaza in New York City. The following weekend I discovered that she was hanging out with my friends on Fire Island where I’ve summered since 1970. Within a week, I was showing her photos of my friends Boudoir party where we were all dressed in various states of undress. And from that moment on, Robyn spent many hours looking at my images. In fact, it became enough of her “free time” that she insisted if I was going to always carry a camera with me, that I should be getting paid for my time. And so, she bought me my first DSLR, a Nikon D60 which re-ignited my passion for time behind the lens. And I have never looked back.

Robyn less than 10 weeks before giving birth to Julia (January 15th, 2012)

Today I am honored to be a Nikon Pro. I am the House Photographer for several prestigious venues in the New York-Metropolitan area including Brooklyn Bowl, City Winery, Harlem Stage, The Capitol Theatre and Irving Plaza where my images hang on the walls. And my images have been published in Rolling Stone, The Times-Picayune, Billboard, Jazz Times and Relix among others. But in addition to shooting in clubs, arenas like Madison Square Garden and major festivals such as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, I shoot event photography (Weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs) and family portraiture. And my theory is the following:

Just like on any given Sunday any football team can beat another…  ANYONE CAN BE A  ROCKSTAR

You can be a bride, a teenage boy becoming a man at his Bar Mitzvah, a group of friends winning a basketball tournament, a three year old who loves to pose for the camera or an actual musician on stage. It doesn’t make a difference. With the right attitude and the right person there to work with you on making the image, we all have the ability to walk the runway or rule concert hall.

You can follow my redheads and me on our adventures. And if you see my images from shows that I shoot and the events I cover, my hope is that you will find that we have a mutual aesthetic when it comes to imagery. So, when you are ready to document any of the big or small moments in your own life (anything from the annual Holiday card photo to the birth of your fist child to candid engagement photos), you will reach out to me.

Grab your air guitar…

because I’m ready to rock!