Roland Miller publishes photography book on abandoned space launch sites
"Abandoned In Place: Preserving America's Space History," a photography book by Roland Miller, College of Lake County photography professor and dean of Communication Arts, Humanities and Fine Arts division, was recently published by the University of New Mexico Press.
In fall 2014, Miller launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised $38,000 to complete the publication process. Featuring 100 stunning images, the book explores the American space launch and research facilities that played a crucial role in early space exploration. The book was selected for publication by the University of New Mexico Press after a lengthy peer-review process.
The highly successful Kickstarter campaign to help finance printing the book caused a media stir during fall 2014. Miller's photography was seen around the world in online and print publications such as Wired.com, CNET, Weather Channel, Daily Mail in London and La Repubblica in Italy.
"The world-wide interest in the project, and especially the Apollo images, surprised me and made me realize that going to moon was not just an American accomplishment. It was a human endeavor that affects everyone," he said.
Since the book's release this month, Miller has been interviewed by the New York Times (print and online editions), Business Insider and the Discovery Channel News. He has also been contacted to speak on the SpaceShow.com podcast and by a Russian TV station.
The book is available through the University of New Mexico Press and Amazon.com.
In early February, Miller signed some of the 3,000 copies printed by New Mexico Press, culminating a 25-year project. For the next five months, 43 of the photos will be on display in Denver at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.
Miller, a photography professor for more than 25 years, said the book preserves and portrays abandoned, deactivated and repurposed space program sites through photography in a way that surpasses the official government approach to documentation. The book is both historical and artistic.
"This is a truly unique book in that it documents the technology and facilities used in one of the greatest adventures of 20th century, and in some ways of all time. I compare these abandoned space program sites to the Civil War battlefields, except they were the battlegrounds of the Cold War," Miller said.
Sites featured in the book include Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral in Florida, Edwards Air Force Base and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Johnson Space Center in Texas and Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
"The project serves not only as a documentary body of work, but also as an artistic interpretation of these historic sites," Miller noted. "The blockhouses, launch towers, tunnels, test stands and control rooms featured in 'Abandoned In Place' are rapidly giving way to the elements and demolition. I estimate that half of the facilities I have photographed no longer exist, because the costs involved in restoring, maintaining and securing them are enormous. Most of these historic facilities are located on secure military or NASA facilities, which drastically limits access by the public. Therefore, photography is the only practical method to preserve and portray these historic locations."
Miller, who dreamed of being an astronaut as a child, became intrigued with photographing space sites in 1988 after being contacted by Air Force officials in Florida about the proper disposal of old photographic chemicals. At the time, he was teaching photography at nearby Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Fla. It took him two years to gain the type of security access he needed to document the NASA and Air Force sites.
The book's prologue was written by Bob Thall, photography professor at Columbia College Chicago. Dr. Roger Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, wrote the foreword. The book also includes four expert essays by Dr. Betsy Fahlman, art historian at Arizona State University; Craig Covault, freelance aerospace journalist; Colonel Pamela Melroy, retired NASA astronaut and the second woman to command a Space Shuttle mission; and Dr. Beth O'Leary, space archeologist and professor emeritus of archeology at New Mexico State University. Also included are three elegies by the late Ray Bradbury, the famous science fiction writer born in Waukegan.
A Chicago native, Miller studied photography at Utah State University, earning his B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees. For 14 years, he taught photography at Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College) in Cocoa, Fla., where he first gained high-level security access to many nearby NASA sites. He then taught at CLC for six years before becoming dean in 2008. CLC granted Miller a sabbatical leave in fall semester 2009 to photograph the winding down of the space shuttle program.
Miller's work has been featured in Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, Florida Today, Kodak's Photo Educator International, The New Scientist and numerous other publications. His photographs are included in permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the NASA Art Collection, the Huntsville Museum of Fine Arts and CLC.
Miller's photographs have been exhibited at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, Huntsville Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, The Anna Lamar Switzer Center for the Visual Arts, Pensacola State College, the National Naval Aviation Museum and the Astronaut Crew Quarters, Kennedy Space Center and CLC.