John Mills, IV, who usually referred to himself as John Mills, was a well-known photographer in the United States from 1935 to his death in 1990. He had a remarkable eye for phtoographs, as he could instantly pick the interesting scene - the great photo - out of a complex and changing visual scene. In addition he was a real perfectionist, especially in the darkroom, where through his efforts negatives came to life as prints. His still photographs are almost all black and white, and encompass an enormous range of topics, from formal portraits to landscapes and industrial scenes (as in the self-portrait here). His landscapes have been likened to those of Ansel Adams.

Mills was born in Boston on 6 July, 1910. He was given his first camera at age 7, and quickly became an avid (if not yet skilled!) photographer. By the time he was in secondary school, Mills had assembled a darkroom and was developing and printing his own photographs. He continued to pursue his interests in photography while at The University of Chicago, where he acquired the nickname of the "Steichen of Chicago." Following university graduation in 1932, he worked sequentially as an architectural, newspaper and then magazine photographer, and in 1937 he started his own photographic studio in Manhattan. During this period as a "free-lance" photographer, he contributed photographs regularly, on a wide variety of topics, to the prestigious "US Camera Annual" and other publications.  During WWII he worked as a motion-picture writer-director making informational films for the US military.

In 1945, he relocated to Rochester, NY, having accepted a position as a motion picture writer-director for Eastman Kodak Company. While at Kodak, he made nearly 20 informational films, two of which won "Golden Eagle" awards from the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events. From then until nearly 1961, when he retired from Kodak, his still photographic skills were applied primarily to making family snapshots. However, following retirement, his interest in still photography, particularly landscape photography, was reawakened and he produced a significant opus of landscapes of the upper New York State countryside. These were exhibited in the Hartnett Gallery of the University of Rochester.