If Sonny Miller were your friend, he would make you feel like you were his best friend. He had that way about him, that humble, kind, honest, and generous way of living. His life was full-on positive and full-on fun. Everyone loved Sonny.
He was a legendary man: a great photographer, cinematographer, filmmaker, and all-around great guy. He tragically passed away from a heart attack on July 8, 2014. It was 10 days before his 54th birthday.
All of us were hit by sudden grief. Our good friend — someone we never imagined wouldn't be here to talk with, laugh with, or travel the world with — was gone.
Sonny's father, Bud Miller, and his uncle, Bill Gilliland, asked me to help protect and oversee Sonny's archive of creative work. There was so much material to deal with. It took weeks of long days loading up and hauling all the material to a secure location. The sheer weight of the film reels, videotapes, and photos was physically demanding — he'd been shooting for decades nonstop. We didn't know it at the time, but moving Sonny's archive into climate-controlled storage was the beginning of the Nalu Vault. Storing, digitizing, and organizing the footage has been a time-consuming and costly endeavor, but it is a mission that must be completed.
Over a decade later, the Nalu Vault has moved to the care of the newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit Nalu Film Foundation, and Sonny Miller will always be our inspiration and honorary ambassador.
As a renowned creative artist, Sonny was passionate about getting the best possible shot and was wise enough to maintain his archive carefully. As the Nalu Film Foundation grows through collections from other great cinematographers and photographers, we bring Sonny's passion, wisdom, surf film history and professionalism to every piece of archive under our care. We remain committed to ensuring that these archives are available for our generation and the generations to follow.
Mahalo, Derek Hoffmann