Lee Miller was born in 1907 in Poughkeepsie, New York.  Growing up, the girl was so fine-looking that she became a model, working in Manhattan and appearing in Vogue at the age of 19.  Lee quickly decided, though, that she had more to offer the world than her pretty face; she wanted to be a photographer. So she abandoned modeling, and hunted down the most famous working photographer at the time, the amazing Man Ray. 

Man Ray was, and remains, incredibly well known for his experimentations with photography, and some of his images are still icons.  Lee wanted to learn from a guy with so much mojo, so she tracked him down in Paris.  Quick as you can “baby cakes, you’re beautiful,” Man Ray took her on as a model and his girlfriend – and Lee learned everything she could from the Master. She didn't want to become known as Man Ray's sidekick, though, so she abandoned him and Paris in 1932, and set herself up in her own studio in Manhattan. 

Lee became a successful portraitist, and even had her own solo show at the Julien Levy Gallery.  But it’s her wartime work that got her the most fame; during World War II, she worked for Vogue and Life, snapping pics of the German’s bombing of Britain (“the Blitz”), as well as recording the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.  These experiences took their toll on Lee, and once she returned she home, she put down her camera, and took up a frying pan.  She became a gourmet chef, and poured all her talents into the great art of cookery. 

Yum!  Or -- I don't know, is the fact that she started cooking instead of taking photographs really, really depressing?  You decide.  What I do know is that Lee had a cool, creative, and tumultuous career -- and she was sensitive enough to other people's suffering that it changed her life.  Even if we think she gave up in the end, that still qualifies her for the Hall of Fame.