The Wizard of Awe

Ken Miller is often referred to on the internet as ‘the smoke guru’. His expertise in manufacturing smoke generators for air shows and other industries has made him a respected pyrotechnicst. However, his journey has been marked by both brilliance and misfortune.
Traumatised by a tragic accident that killed his business partner and best friend, Howard Snelson, and left him with severe burns, he turned to painkillers to deal with his physical pain and the guilt that consumed him. Despite these tragedies, Ken’s passion for pyrotechnics never waned. His property in southern Minnesota became a testing ground for his eccentric experiments, with burn scars and explosion craters dotting the landscape. This volatile world became the subject of a project that captured the essence of his life and work. Guided by Ken’s knowledge, Kevin Cooley (US) created three photographic series – Controlled Burns, Gathering Clouds, and Exploded Views – and extensively documented his visits to the rural farm, offering a surreal glimpse into Ken’s pyrotechnic world.
The story was eventually published as a photo essay in Popular Science entitled The Wizard of Awe. But the publicity proved to be Ken’s undoing. The article attracted the attention of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), leading to an investigation that revealed Ken’s continued involvement in the creation of smoke devices – a violation of federal law due to his previous convictions for manufacturing illegal explosives and possession of a firearm.
Throughout these legal battles, he expressed a deep sense of responsibility and remorse. He acknowledged his failures and the consequences of his actions. In the end, Ken was arrested and sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison, and faces a future without pyrotechnics. Yet he doesn’t blame Cooley for what happened, insisting that he saved his life by steering him away from a path of ‘bad choices’.
The Wizard of Awe is an ode to Ken Miller – a powerful testament to his life’s work as a pyrotechnicst and his subsequent redemption.