Surf photography is a transitory business. Lifelong adherents once considered icons get axed from staff jobs in favor of wide-eyed eager beavers stoked to make $25,000 a year. Last month’s fashionable maneuver becomes this month’s stock shit. Tight action goes in and out of style, pulled-back angles become all the rage, artsy experimentalism is simultaneously laughed at and revered. And as any seasoned shooter will tell you, if you aren’t shooting the right guys in the right places, well, you might as well be passing the time snapping pics at your local menehune surf camp.

All of which means that a little character goes a long way — or, in the case of 32-year-old St. Augustine, FL, native and Cape May Court House, NJ, resident Ryan Miller, a whole lotta weirdness can lead to an untouchable role in the international surf-shooter pantheon. “If you want to make it as a surf photographer,” says Surfing Associate Photo Editor Jimmy Wilson, “you’re gonna have to be a little different. That’s what Miller does to an extreme extent.” He might be the only photographer in the world who can get away with wearing Speedos while shooting Jordy Smith at home in South Africa. Or swimming naked to bag barrel shots of Dane Reynolds in the Caribbean. Or getting blackout drunk to celebrate committed Christian Damien Hobgood’s recent ASP Prime win in Western Australia. “Miller’s skills are great and his brain is weird,” says Volcom Director of Surfing Mike Guarino. “A perfect combo to capture the surfers and world of today.” 

Before you question Ryan’s sexual tendencies or ability to keep it all together, there are two things you must know: first, you won’t meet a more committed family man, one who treasures every minute spent at home in the Garden State with his wife Cristen and two-year-old daughter Isabel. And second, this short, gap-toothed, oft-mulleted guy will outhustle and outwork just about anybody in the industry. As childhood friend Gabe Kling attests, “Miller’s made a name for himself — if you shoot with him, you’re gonna see the photos in your inbox within 10 minutes.”

Surprisingly, Miller attributes his unflinching work ethic not to his parents, not to his college days attending top-notch photo programs in Florida or New York, and not to any awe-inspiring surf industry guidance. Instead, he owes it all to Yum Yums — the Sea Isle City ice cream parlor that Miller runs with his wife, her twin sister Charlene, and Charlene’s husband Seth Stafford. That’s right: two internationally acclaimed surf photographers, two twin sisters, and one Jersey Shore boardwalk institution. Sounds like a good premise for a reality show. “Fucking weird, huh?” Miller laughs. 

Depends on your definition of weird. Miller first photographed Kling and fellow St. Augustine High alum Jody Davis in the mid ‘90s, before giving up because of what he called “shitty cameras, shitty waves, shitty photos, and no surfing.” After graduating in 1997, he enrolled at Daytona Beach Community College, where teachers like Gary Monroe and Eric Breitenbach sharpened his technical skills while also inspiring him to take a shine to documentary photography in Haiti. Returning to St. Augustine after receiving his Associate’s degree, Miller met his future wife Cristen Seymour, and soon the couple was lured back to New Jersey. 

Part of the draw came from Cristen’s parents, who owned several Jersey Shore businesses, allowing the enterprising twenty-somethings to work nonstop throughout the summer and then travel during the winter with their earnings. “India, Thailand, Europe, Morocco,” Miller remembers. “We did all this crazy shit, sleeping in $3-a-night hotels, but we had a blast seeing the world.” After a few years of that, Miller decided he wanted a four-year degree and entered the photo program at City University of New York. After plopping his portfolio on the department director’s desk, Miller’s DBCC-honed skills allowed him to take independent study courses to complete his bachelor’s degree. He even beat out a host of Ivy League arts students to win a competitive $15,000 photo grant to spend a year shooting in Haiti. “I wasn’t even thinking about surfing at that time,” he says. “I definitely wasn’t surfing while we lived in NYC. Work in the summer, travel in the winter, Haiti a bunch of times — I wasn’t going anywhere near surfing.”

But then one summer, Cristen decided she wanted to learn how to ride waves, and Miller says everything snapped into place. “I taught her how to surf and she was like, ‘Fuck India, fuck Vietnam — let’s go to the Gold Coast’,” he remembers. “I realized my road with documentary photography was coming to an end, so I figured if we were going to all these surf destinations, might as well pick up surf photography again. I kind of owe all my spark getting started to my wife.” Remembering the frustration of standing on the beach back home in St. Augustine, though, Miller only bought a waterhousing, and promptly began swimming at what he calls “the worst places” — Middles in Puerto Rico, the Superbank in Australia. “I was just having fun, learning how it all worked,” he says. “It wasn’t super stressful, it wasn’t awful like standing on the beach, and I figured if I wasn’t getting photos, at least I was swimming having a blast.”

Fortuitously, Miller’s jump back into the surf photo ring ‘round about 2005 coincided with good friend Gabe Kling’s rapid rise on the WQS — and his recent sponsorship by Matix. “Gabe was the only pro surfer I knew, and he let me tag along on his program, which I was super grateful for,” Miller says. “He opened the door to Matix and DVS for me and was a big stepping stone in my life.” Miller sold Matix their first ad of Gabe, and got a few other photos published in ESM, which led him to go all in and load up on gear in Hawaii during the winter of 2005. “After a week, I got a photo of Bruce Irons at Off The Wall,” Miller says. “The only person other than Gabe I knew in the surf industry was Mikey Guarino, who had just started working at Volcom. I sent him the photo when I was still wet and sandy from the beach, and he hit me back and said, ‘We’ll take that thing as a buyout.’ Ridiculous!”

Guarino says he recognized Miller’s potential from the beginning. “When Miller walked into surf photography, he reeked of someone who already knew what was good beyond the surf world. It’s easy for me to remember Miller’s photos among the many that pour in — they come from a guy who has a gap tooth and weird hair.” But it didn’t stop with that shot of Bruce. Gabe suggested that Miller come to Scotland for the inaugural O’Neill Cold Water Classic (then the Highland Pro) in March 2006, a trip that eventually landed Miller a six-page article in that year’s ESM World Travel Issue. “We had a fucking blast,” Miller says. “It was me, Gabe, Ben, and two Cali guys, and one of ‘em pissed and moaned the whole time, which just pushed us over the ledge to go absolutely mad. Still one the best trips I’ve ever been on.” After returning home, Gabe and Ben started prodding Miller about his experiences in Haiti, drawing the attention of fellow Caribbean crazies Asher Nolan and Zander Morton. So Miller casually pitched the idea to ESM alumni and then-Surfing Magazine Senior Editor Matt Walker, who forwarded it on to Editor Evan Slater, who approved the first look at the third-world country right off the bat. “I had never had a photo run in Surfing,” Miller says. “And they green-lighted the trip without even knowing who I was! Plus, the fact that these guys, who had been or were about to be on the WCT, would even go with me was crazy. It all snowballed from there.”

Podium Distribution, owners of Matix, DVS, and Lakai, brought Miller on as a full-time staff photographer in 2007 after Gabe suggested him for a catalog shoot and the bigwigs witnessed Miller’s work ethic firsthand. In another happy accident, fast-rising South African Jordy Smith signed with DVS in late 2007, just after crushing that year’s World Qualifying Series and earning a much-celebrated spot on the Dream Tour. “Jordy had already made a big splash, so I was working with him immediately shooting portraits for his first ad,” Miller says. “We hit it off right away. I see eye to eye with him, and we can have a good time and share a laugh.” Today, Miller might as well be Jordy’s right-hand man; the two just spent a fruitful month surfing, shooting, drinking wine, eating, and cruising around Smith’s Cape Town-area home, and Miller has become Stab Magazine’s go-to source for any and all shots of the big Saffa. Miller’s also been hired by Smith’s main sponsor O’Neill, and even landed the enviable job of principal photographer for Jordy’s upcoming 2012 film, sure to be one of the most anticipated in surfing history. 

But cementing a solid relationship with just one of the best young surfers in the world wasn’t enough for Miller. In 2009, St. Augustine filmmaker and good friend Dustin Miller (no relation) had just begun working with Dane Reynolds, and before a freesurf in France, Dustin suggested to Dane that Ryan come along. “Ryan and I have a lot in common because of our documentary background and love of weird cameras,” Dustin says. “So I figured Dane would get along with him because Ryan travels with these old cameras and doesn’t give a crap about the industry. And they instantly hit it off.” That first photo session with Dane delivered the February 2010 cover of Transworld Surf, Miller’s first for a national publication, and led to several more trips to the Caribbean for Reynolds’ film Thrills, Spills, And What Not. Which, of course, led to Ben Bourgeois landing the front page of Surfing’s July 2010 issue, before a fruitful trip to Bali resulted in Jordy Smith gracing the cover of Surfer’s November 2010 issue. Miller’s also bagged two covers of Stab — Jordy in February 2010 and Dane in March 2010 — along with Jordy on the October 2010 cover of Wavelength. “I work hard,” Miller says of his phenomenal year. “I’m not the greatest photographer, but I’m always willing to grind it out. If you give me your best, I’ll fully give you that right back.” 

“The most important aspect for a surf photographer is connections with high-profile surfers,” Jimmy Wilson says. “I see guys try to bro down and worship the ground pros walk on, but Miller just shows up on the North Shore, wears CJ Hobgood’s winning Sunset Cup jersey out to a party, and rips the imaginary dance floor with hilarious homoerotic moves. People either want to fight him or be best friends with him, and Dane and Jordy chose the latter.” 

Miller’s success over the last couple of years has been so rapid that he’s even been able to decrease his shifts at Yum Yums, where he used to scoop ice cream every day from mid-May to mid-September. He says that photography takes first priority now, although he admits that his wife still “cracks the whip.” “We’ve run Yum Yums on our own since we were 21,” Miller continues. “It’s always been sink or swim — you run this fucker or you’re going bankrupt. Granted, it’s ice cream, which is not that hard, but it’s still a lot. If you mess it up, you’re getting your house taken away. So I really appreciate the photo thing — I’m never going to let myself get too jaded or too cool. I look around at friends I grew up with who are doing construction, and they’re not making as much money as me, and I feel like I have way more fun than them, so fuck if I’m not going to appreciate it and work hard. God knows there are way too many guys below me who want my spot.”

At that, Miller’s notoriously blunt nature becomes evident. He acknowledges that once the run ends for good friends like Kling, Bourgeois, the Hobgoods, Jordy, and Dane, he’ll probably be done, too. “You just have to be realistic,” he says. “I’ve only got a couple of years left before I get pushed out the back, and then I’ll just have to bite it and go back to scooping ice cream in Sea Isle City.” When asked about photographic influences, he emphasizes that looking outside the surfing box is mandatory. “Surfing photos all look the same,” he says. “Everything’s real simple. My photos aren’t that good, and no one else’s are that much crazier. You have to look at gnarly documentary guys like Henri Cartier-Bresson or Alex Webb for a little bit of inspiration.” And don’t even get him started on equipment or lenses. “I shoot Nikon because that’s what I started with, but it’s all the same shit. I don’t think there’s a dime’s worth of difference between a Nikon or a Canon. And I’m a monkey with the long lens — I love to mix it up, but most of the time I’m just a button pusher on the beach.”

Another slightly sore subject for Miller is his inability to click with the crew in South Jersey, where he’s now lived for over ten years. But in his self-deprecating way, he attributes it more to himself than anyone else. “When I first moved up here, I shot some photos, but as I spent more time on the road I got way more distanced from those guys,” he says. “This year, when the waves were good during hurricane season, I could not hook up with one local guy. It’s so weird to think that I’ve made it, getting published in big magazines, and I can’t get one person to return my phone call. It’s a little bit of everything — I’m kind of a dick. I’m out of town so much. And there are so many other local guys who are on it year-round. Seth, Ray Hallgreen, Donald Cresitello, Rich McMullin, Ryan Struck… these guys are dialed in, and I’m out of the loop.”

For all those insecurities and candid assessments of his own talents, Miller is most comfortable when discussing where his heart truly lies: at home with his family. While most freelance photographers are married strictly to the road, Miller goes so far as to count down each day, as in “only four more sleeps to go until I get home.” “Having a wife and a kid with this schedule is hard for sure,” he says. “But the day I get home, I’m with them seven days a week, 24 hours a day. That totally makes me appreciate the time I’m on the road that hurts my heart.” Miller and his wife made traveling with Isabel a priority after she was born, even though now it’s becoming more expensive. “She’s full on,” he laughs. “Oz three times, Spain, France, Hawaii, Florida, the Dominican Republic… and she’s only two! This year when we went to Oz was the first time we had to buy her a ticket, and it was $1,500 — but just three days with my daughter is worth $1,500. And there’s no way I’m going to complain when I’m away from ‘em. Last year I was gone 191 days out of the year, but I probably spent more waking hours with my family than my buddies who work 9 – 5.”

Kling says that Miller’s family life helps out a lot on the road, too. “He’s pretty domesticated now, so he cooks us all breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Gabe laughs. “He has a very strict routine at the grocery store — doesn’t get any snacks, only stuff for meals. He’s the full Soup Nazi when it comes to that.” 

So what’s next for Ryan Miller? Well, in May and June he’s got a girls trip for Transworld, the Billabong Rio Pro in Brazil, a Stab-sponsored wave pool shoot in South Africa for Jordy’s movie, and then a Red Bull trip to the Mentawais. “I don’t have the rankings,” Jimmy Wilson says, “but it would be hard to imagine there’s a non-staff photographer who gets published more than Miller does. And that is very, very hard to do.” Especially when you’re rocking Speedos and mullets on a regular basis. “Ryan likes to wear Speedos — a lot,” Dustin Miller laughs. “It’s even better because they’re all so worn out, and they hang kind of low in the crotch, where you can literally see through them. It’s really scary and funny at the same time.” As Gabe affirms, “I’ve known Miller forever — he was weird in high school, and he’s still weird now. That’ll never change.”

Whether it’s weirdness or just good ol’ fashioned fun, Miller claims his most recent trip to Western Australia was right up his alley. After all, longtime friend Damien Hobgood won an ASP 6-Star Prime, and the tight-knit East Coast crew celebrated with unlimited red wine, which led to the common Miller affliction of “purple teeth.” “I want to have a good time when I travel,” he finishes. “I want to hang with my friends. I don’t get paid enough money to be away from my family, traveling with people I don’t get along with, and not having fun.”