Photographer Francis Miller shooting presidential beagles on White House lawn. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Photographer Francis Miller shooting presidential beagles on White House lawn. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

James Bond could not have concealed a camera with more finesse. Francis Miller (1905-1973) hid them in cigarette cases, camouflaged them with neckties and carved out the pages of a copy of The Best Known Novels of George Eliot to encase his lens. His agility with a surreptitious camera was so well-known, a colleague once blew his cover by yelling to him. “Hey, Miller. where you got the camera hid this time?”

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

Orphaned brothers watching a TV set for the first time. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Orphaned brothers watching a TV set for the first time. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Model demonstrating the Aqua Bobber. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Model demonstrating the Aqua Bobber. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

The watermelon stripe baby Tapir stretching out beside the older family member at the Brookfield zoo.(Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

The watermelon stripe baby Tapir stretching out beside the older family member at the Brookfield zoo.(Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

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