Waterbury-based photographer Peter Miller, who prefers to say his residence is in Colbyville, has published a lot of images we like to call “iconic.” And that’s because they are. In his previous books Vermont People and Vermont Farm Women, we can see older Vermonters, primarily living close to the land, and recognize that the photos document a passing way of life — and yet it’s one that continues to resonate in the still largely agrarian Green Mountain State.
Maybe it’s the “new” agricultural consciousness in Vermont that keeps the interest in Miller’s images alive. Maybe it’s just that he wanted to repackage previously published photographs with others never before seen. Either way, Miller’s new A Lifetime of Vermont People — released on his own Silver Print Press — is a handsome, 9-by-12-inch coffee-table volume.
The photo on its cover is a head shot of Carroll Shatney, a Scottish Highlander breeder in Greensboro Bend. It was taken in 1993, when Shatney was 98. His grizzled, time-worn face is offset by a jaunty cap that says “Fun!” and appears to be a souvenir of the Champlain Valley Fair.
Shatney died in 2009. His son, Ray, and wife continue to sell Highland beef to individual customers, restaurants and stores, according to A Lifetime of Vermont People. And that’s one of the lovely things about the book: that Miller provides updates about many of the people in his photographs. It illustrates not only how much research he has done, but also how much he cares about the folks he’s captured on film.
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