Gilb Museum of History in Arcadia Spotlights Beacon Media Photographer’s Career

Gilb Museum of History in Arcadia Spotlights Beacon Media Photographer’s Career

Curated by Dr. Dana Hicks, a retrospective of Terry Miller’s 30-plus years in photojournalism kicks off January 17, marking the opening of the show with a 2 p.m. reception.
Miller has been with Beacon Media’s family of newspapers for over 16 years and covered just about everything his quest for honest, insightful and meaningful journalism. Miller has garnered some highly respected industry awards for his photographs including a First Place Spot News award from the Press Photographer’s Association of Greater Los Angeles for depicting the aftermath of a police shooting; and a rotating exhibit on the Queen Mary in Long Beach featuring some of the best Los Angeles County photojournalists’ work over the past 50 years. Miller was also honored by The Visual Arts Guild of New York for his extensive coverage of protests regarding the Beijing Olympics when the Tournament of Roses float depicting the city of Beijing and the Olympics became a target.
Prior to Beacon Media, Miller worked as chief photographer for a Pulitzer paper called “Five Cities Times Press Recorder” on the Central Coast and prior to that, fourteen years with newspapers in Santa Barbara County including: Carpinteria Herald; South Coast Community Newspapers, Inc; Goleta Valley News, and Goleta Sun.
The exhibit will show some rare and extraordinary images of politicians behind the scenes as well his images of some of life’s more difficult and complex issues.

Miller Gets decontaminated in 1991 – Photo by David Sprague LA Daily News

Of all the stories Miller has covered over the years, one truly stands out from the crowd. It happened in August 1991 when his editor assigned him to shoot a major train derailment at Seacliff (between Ventura and Santa Barbara off the 101). This was a big story, and Miller had to get there fast. Aqueous Hydrazine (an odorless rocket fuel headed for Vandenburg Air Force Base) was escaping into the atmosphere unbeknownst to the eager newsman. Miller got through the CHP barricades with his press credentials and started shooting the tangled mess with a 20MM wide angle lens. Miller became concerned that no one else was in the spot he was shooting and quickly realized with the help of a screaming Ventura County Firefighter’s voice off in the distant south (upwind of the toxic mess) that he was in a dangerous area. “Get the hell outta there!” the firefighter screamed.
Miller jumped back into his car and took cover at the nearest Fire Station. One firefighter was concerned that Miller had been contaminated. They immediately cordoned off his car and body with that ever-present yellow warning tape. Upon further examination it was deemed that he had, in fact, been contaminated and needed to go through a decontamination process and be airlifted to Ventura County Medical Center. Hence Miller, who was sent to cover a major news story, actually became part of the news. The following day’s national newspapers ran a vivid photo of Miller being decontaminated by a Ventura County Hazardous Materials Crew. His colleagues dubbed him “Toxic Terry “upon his return to the newsroom.
The Museum is located at 380 West Huntington Drive in Arcadia. The exhibit runs January 17-March 14. Please call 626-574-5440 for more details.

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