Mili, Gjon (1904–1984)

Albanian-born US photographer. A freelance photographer for Life and other magazines, from 1939 he lived in New York City, where his work was frequently exhibited. His many books and articles include The Magic of the Opera (1960) and Homage to Picasso (1967).

Mili was born in Kerce, Albania, and emigrated to the USA in 1923. He studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1927. He did research in lighting at Westinghouse Electric in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1928–38), and worked on experiments in high-speed photography with Harold E Edgerton at MIT. He would become best known for introducing the results of such advanced technological developments to the general public with his dramatic ‘stop-action’ photographs.