| | Published September 11th, 2013
| Lamorindans Invited to Honor the Late Wayne F. Miller, Legendary Photographer and Orinda Resident
| | By Laurie Snyder |  | | "Resignation," responded Miller when asked to describe this math test moment experienced at some point by every student, everywhere. Copyright, Wayne F. Miller, 1958. Used with permission.
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The family of long-time Orindan, Wayne F. Miller, has extended an invitation to area residents to join in celebrating his life and work at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15 at the Lafayette Veterans' Memorial Building in Lafayette.
Miller, who passed away in May at the age of 94, preserved forever the faces of America's World War II fighting men, and chronicled the early aftermath of the atomic bomb drop at Hiroshima. After documenting the experience of Chicago's post-war black society, he turned his lens on Orinda. His 1958 book, "The World Is Young," captured life in a largely undeveloped, but growing town.
His photos of wife, Joan, and newborn son, David, were included in the New York Museum of Modern Art's acclaimed Family of Man Exhibit. One captured David's delivery by Miller's own physician-father. Chosen by Carl Sagan's team to be one of just 115 images and sounds to tell Earth's story, it still travels the galaxy aboard Voyager I and is currently at the heliosphere's edge in interstellar space.Asked by this reporter in 2012 if he thought someone or something "out there" might eventually find it, Miller's eyes twinkled. "That would be kind of fun to find out, wouldn't it?"
Shifting his focus away from photography, Miller and his wife spent decades sharing their passion for California's redwood forests with their sons and daughters, Jeanette and Dana. "That is the most exciting experience in the world to be amongst those young trees and old trees," he said as he pointed to a very tall redwood in his Orinda back yard. Nurtured from infancy by Joan, they named it after son, Peter, the young boy contemplating a butterfly on the cover of "The World Is Young."
Wayne Miller's passing was heralded by LeMonde in France, the New York Times, and by other major news outlets across the globe. On Sept. 15, his neighbors and hometown fans will celebrate a life well lived.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA