Sonny Miller

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Sonny Miller (July 18, 1960 – July 8, 2014) was an American cinematographer and waterman who specialized in surfing and nature photography. He was nicknamed Cap'n Fun.

Early life
Miller was born in San Jose, California, and moved to Encinitas before 1971 where he learned to surf. He attended San Dieguito High School and studied photography at Palomar College.

Career beginnings
He started by submitting surfing photos to Surfer and Breakout magazines and also contributed to Snowboard Magazine, which featured his work on its debut cover. He later moved into 16 mm film for action photography.

Surfing documentaries
Miller teamed with Tom Curren to create The Search (1992), a series about Curren’s freestyle surfing. His other surfing documentaries included Breakin’ on Thru (1992), The Search II (1993), For the Sea (1994), Beyond the Boundaries (1994), Feral Kingdom (1995), Aloha Bowls (1996), Tripping the Planet (1996), and Searching for Tom Curren, which won Video of the Year from Surfer magazine in 1997.

Hollywood work
From 1998 onward, Miller worked on Hollywood projects such as In God’s Hands (1998), Blue Crush (2002) where he also appeared on screen as a surf contest announcer, Riding Giants (2004), The Big Bounce (2004), and Lords of Dogtown (2005). His work is said to appear in the 2015 remake of Point Break. At the time of his death, he was filming Ricochet Surf Dog for ESPN.

Filming approach
Miller preferred 16 mm film over videotape because it was compact for action filming and offered better contrast and the possibility of slow motion. After editing, his footage was transferred to videotape. Helen Hunt described Miller’s life this way, noting his famous waterproof camera housings that helped fund his work and life.

Personal life and death
He was married to Debra Levinson from 1999 to 2009. Miller died of a heart attack on July 8, 2014, in La Jolla, California, at age 53, about a week after his mother, Suzanne Gilliland, died. At the time of his death, he was working on a story about a surf–dog for ESPN.