Jay Miller began his career as an aviation photojournalist in 1957 - he was just nine years old. Through the lens of a small Kodak Brownie pointed to the West Texas sky, Jay Miller built the foundation of a career that would lead him face-to-face with some of the most famous aviators in history. In that time, he’s cultivated an immense body of work that catalogs the story of aviation. 

In this first installment of a two-part conversation, we’ll speak with Jay about his early days photographing aircraft in Odessa, Texas. He’ll tell us how he came to know renowned aviators like Jimmy Doolittle and Eddy Rickenbacker, how he acquired the mach meter from the first manned flight to reach a speed of mach 3, and how a mistake made while photographing an air-to-air warhead led to an otherwise unattainable image.