Signed copy of the limited edition book ‘Birdmen’ by documentary photographer Dod Miller.
Hardcover with Dust Jacket
Limited to 150 copies
Signed by the artist
240x240mm (Square Orientation)
84 Pages
39 Images
“The Birdman competition is the quintessence of British humour and eccentricity. Held each summer along the south coast of England, people dressed in avian related garb attempt to fly off piers. The furthest flight wins prize money, before splash landing in the water.
Standing on the pier, away from the crowd, Miller captured mixed feelings of excitement, pride, anxiety and fear. As each birdman walked away from the friendly and light atmosphere of the beach to get ready for their big jump, whilst nervously glancing down over the edge of the platform.
The old-fashioned twin-lens reflex, shooting black and white images in a square frame, could capture the eccentric birds with clarity as long as they stood perfectly still. Miller pictured each of them individually, focusing on their uniqueness, particularities and self-crafted narratives. Waves and clouds of rainy English summer days served as a backdrop to their performance, divided by the horizontal lines of the sea and the structure of the pier.
Miller’s Rolleiflex transformed the pier into a theatre stage, where anyone was convinced, just for a moment, that homemade feathers and newspaper wings could really fly.”
A short extract an extract from the afterword by Julie Bonzon in Birdmen by Dod Miller.
£40
Dod Miller grew up in the former Soviet Union, the US, and South Africa. He returned to the UK when he was 14 and continued his education in South London. After leaving school, he joined the Hastings Observer and the Sussex Express training as a photographer.