Surrounded by his own photographs, some reaching the top of high ceilings at his first professional art show, Kyle Miller was a little surprised by the large crowd of folks clamoring to get inside and meet the hotshot.

He’s gotten past the initial shock that his photographs are in high demand after seeing them used in magazines like National Geographic and some of the largest newspapers in the country. Yet, the Oct. 25 event at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West was the first time his work behind the camera taking intimate images of his coworkers on one of the top interagency hotshot crews in the west were being curated as artwork — a designation he has yet to get his head around.

Wyoming Hotshot crews’ primary mission is to provide a safe, professional, mobile, and highly skilled hand-crew status for all phases of fire management and incident operations. The Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and state agencies sponsor more than 100 interagency hotshot crews, mostly in the western United States.

On average hotshots spend more days on the fire line performing fire suppression activities than any other ground based firefighting resource. They also perform and take lead on a wide variety of tasks. The duration and diversity of their firefighting experience, combined with the experienced leadership, enhances the skills of crew members in every aspect of wildland fire management, according to the Forest Service.

Miller is a leader on the crew and a big part of his job is to ensure their safety.

“I’m in the number two spot on the crew, so at this point, the responsibility is falling heavily on me,” he said.

Yet, like every statement he makes, he is quick to deflect praise. His modesty and soft-spoken nature is endearing — even as the spotlight is aimed directly at him. Miller’s photographs shed light on heroic efforts of professional firefighters who risk their lives to save resources and lives across the West. Along with his 45-pound pack, he carries his Nikon into battle and returns with photos very few have ever had the access to make. He concentrates on techniques and composition, but it is his vision — born in 21 years on the job — that makes his images special. However, it’s just a day’s work to Miller.

“I don’t really think of myself as an artist,” he said.

Fine art

The curators of the show, including Ashlea Espinal, assistant curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, Rebekah Childers, registrar for the center and Corey Anco, curator of the Draper Natural History Museum, see his photographs as “fine art.”

“We were all blown away by the photographs,” said Espinal. “Anybody can take a photo, but it really does take an artistic eye to be able to find a good composition. The way that he frames some of the scenes, the way he captures the action in terms of the flames or the people, the way he combines all those different elements together; all the different formal elements of art are in there. I definitely consider these to be fine art photography.”

Childers first suggested the show for the prestigious John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery. She saw his work on her social media accounts and began to look deeper into his portfolio.

“I started looking into his work a little more and presented it to our exhibition team and everyone looked at his work and said it had a lot of potential,” she said.

She was initially drawn in by the esthetics of his work and his artistic eye. As she researched his photographs she found a “stunning” portfolio. They also portrayed an important topic in the West.

“Wildfire fires are such a hot topic right now. It’s so relevant in the American West,” she said.

Wyoming is coming off of a really bad fire year and Miller’s photos are poignant. Yet, the exhibit was in the works well before several fires in the state blew up. Like his work — the subject matter is essentially tragedies in the making — the exhibit shows the immense scale of fires compared to the human form, giving a rare chance to understand risks to the crew members, yet find beauty in the flames.

“What gets me with this exhibition is the fact that something can be so beautiful and so incredibly frightening at the same time,” said Rebecca West, executive director of the center.

Anco introduced Miller to the large crowd, pointing out two central themes in the show: exploring fire ecology in western ecosystems and the human element of wildland firefighting.

“Everyone has experienced the realities of living with wildfire here in the fire prone Yellowstone ecosystem, and the effects of large scale fires are becoming more prevalent as they are being observed across the globe,” he said. “Wyoming and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is shifting to a warmer and drier climate. That means we’re going to continue to experience more frequent, more intense and larger fires.”

Miller looked nervous prior to his introduction, but seemed at ease despite all eyes on him when it was his turn to speak. He said the main objective to his artwork is educational.

“I hear a lot of feedback from people that have zero idea what wildfire is, and so that’s a lot of why I take pictures — it’s just to have that exposure of what wildland firefighters are doing,” he said.

Family of firefighters

That job takes him away from his wife and two young children for weeks at a time and has few luxuries. But for Miller, camping under the stars and being outside for extended periods of time, even if it’s burning down, is a luxury few understand.

“I probably sleep better out there than I do at home. The fresh air and lack of noisy children getting up in the middle of the night helps,” he said. “I would rather sleep out under the stars. I absolutely hate putting up a tent.”

His wife Laura understands the level of commitment the job requires. She worked in wildland fire before becoming a physical therapist.

“Her dad did fire. Her sister did fire. Her brother-in-law does fire. She’s used to it,” he said.

But their children are too young to realize why their father is frequently gone, let alone why so many people are packing the large gallery in honor of his years looking through the lens. Laura said there is a lot of sacrifice for families of wildland firefighters.

“We don’t look forward to summer because we don’t have the chance to do a lot of those summer activities because he is gone so much,” she said. “Fall is my favorite time of the year because that means he’s coming home.”

Laura knew what she was getting into marrying a firefighter.

“My family has been involved with the Forest Service and firefighting my whole life, so that was something I also grew up [with]. I mean, as I grew up it was, dad’s out on a fire assignment, and so I was used to it,” she said while trying to indulge her daughter during the grand opening. “There’s a lot of my friends and fire wives here that maybe didn’t grow up to that, and they’ve had to grow accustomed to it, so we support each other.”

This past year there has been a lot of sacrifice. The editing process for the show was extensive, but even more time was spent creating one-of-a-kind frames for each photograph. Kyle spent a day for each frame, building and hand burning the frames to highlight the effects of fire.

Once Kyle decides to do something, he’s all in, Laura said.

“He dives into everything that he is interested in,” she said. “I think he looks at like he’s always learning and improving. I’ve seen it over the course of our relationship, how he slowly improved over the many years, and it’s been kind of neat to see looking back from his first photos.”

Fire on the Mountain will be displayed until August of 2025. The center is currently in winter hours and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through November, then Dec. 1-Feb. 28 it is open Thursday to Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. before returning to daily hours.