About
Scott Montgomery | Director, DP, Photographer | Chattanooga, TN, New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA
Specialty: directing people focused motion & stills content for leading Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Home, Banking and Heavy Industry clients.
Lurzer’s Archive 200best Photographers global 2022-2026. (top 30 US)
Clients:
Healthcare: Memorial Sloan Kettering, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer, AbbVie, Sunovion, United Healthcare, Zoetis, Univ. CA: Irvine.
SoFi, State Street, T-Mobile, Verizon, Andersen Windows, Damen (EU), US Army, PSE&G, General Electric, AEP (Amer Electric Power), National Park Service, Hawaii Tourism, Land O’ Lakes, Nationwide Insurance, Pennsylvania Tourism, Proctor & Gamble, Lennar, Shea Homes, Newland Communities, Taylor Wimpey, Del Webb, Werther’s, Wyndham, Sheraton.
FAQ's
You direct motion? Yes: directed and DP'd ISHues: a 77 min feature documentary film (IMBD), several broadcast spots and regularly cover blended motion and stills content on assignment.
What’s your directing style? I give talent boundaries with room to be human. Surprise with unexpected cues to bump them out of overthinking. Many times, the best stuff is in-between or after reactions (more on this below).
You also DP? I bring my stills compositional style to each scene. Craft the look & lighting. It’s lazy to center punch the action.
Preferred Camera? Canon for Cinema and Stills both - love Canon's color science. Cinema 4K Raw, 4 Channel Audio pushing Teradek Wireless Video Village to iPads. Audio Kit: Sennheiser AVX Lav Mic (2). DJI RS 4 Pro.
What about Editing? DiVinchi Resolve on a calibrated Eizo monitor to cut and color grade. Editing choices are as important as on set direction to authoring a narrative.
Breakfast on Set: muffins and donuts? Hard No. I grew up in Southern California. My call is a breakfast burrito with solid green salsa and good coffee.
Approach:
I am deeply interested in creating relationship in the work. Relationship can be with a place, it's not always happy and sometimes our ride or die is a Labrador.
Directing Talent:
I can't ask people in front of my lens to "get there" by barking demands or doing 25 takes. Part of the skill set is reading the room, connecting and sliding inside what they need to give us the performance we're looking for. Give them a real action they’re familiar with and the room to show us. Lighting is part of the solution: continuous whole areas so talent and camera can be free to move and find the moment. I love locations and think of them as another talent character to collaborate with. All blended together, rigorously planned "Happy Accidents" will happen.
I’m protective of the term Story. She has worn edges from overuse along with Design, Authentic and a few others. In an ocean of everyone howling online, we still lean in when absorbing solid story craft. Why is my foundation. Audience will not fade from an interesting story well told.
My Story: my parents and grandparents are from a mill town south of Pittsburgh filled with stout working people, local bars, rusted trucks and church on Sunday. I spent a lot of time there and it formed me. Later we moved to Southern California 15 minutes from the beach and all its sun baked possibilities. The blend gave me a dual citizenship of eastern work ethic and blind romantic optimism.
Real stories are never perfect or easy…. lost my mom to a long term illness. Lost some good people to the politics of divorce. Getting married again without the blinders of innocence. My story is a gumbo of messy scratched magic I'm happy to share over a good meal.
Creating with a camera picked me as a NC State freshman. We’re a good fit and I’ve been working hard to be responsible with her since. I have a stretch goal of lecturing back at State, where I was kicked out after two years for insufficient academic attention. My student newspaper family plus the Voodoo Charms of southern women were no match for homework. It was the right thing. School had always come far too easy and I hadn't yet learned to respect my education. My parents were mortified. It lit a fire. There's nothing that motivates me more than telling me I can't. Could I fill a theater for “10,000 first dates: an artists business guide to making it” Stay tuned.
Daughters unlocked me and changed my work from what I thought was "Cool" to what I was looking for all along. Family, Relationships, Home. I love working with them. Bring me the kids, I've got this.
Play for me now is food, several hours on my road bike (Scott Mont on Strava) and a good bookstore. I have a mild obsession with cooking that has grown since waiting tables in college. I know people who only eat to avoid hunger: they’re not my people. I prefer spoons, sometimes eat with my hands and judge a little if you don't share a taste with me. I use my grandfathers 100 year old Griswold #10 daily. Michelle says I have a man crush on my elderly Dominican butcher. I can’t rebuild a car engine, but I can go into any kitchen and feed you a good meal.
Fun Fact: my high school/college job (among others) was selling Cokes/Peanuts/Hotdogs/Malts in the stands at California Angels baseball games (I refuse the LA Angels name - LA is the Dodgers). In front of thousands each night, I learned to entertain a crowd, deal with drunk fans "Hey You... get your Nuts over here..." ha-haaa Eye Roll, flirt with popcorn girls and see the occasional double play. I never caught a ball.
Bring your ideas and let’s play in the sand box. It’s a gift to do this.
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Awards and Recognition:
Big Apple Film Festival 2026: ISHues - Feature Documentary Finalist
Depth of Field Int Film Festival 2026: ISHues - Best of Show
Lurzer’s Archive global 200best list 2022-2026
https://www.aphotoeditor.com/2024/10/31/the-art-of-the-personal-project-scott-montgomery/
https://www.apadc.com/feature/06/15/how-i-shot-this-with-scott-montgomery
The School of Visual Arts - BFA Photo
Advertising Photographers of America: National Treasurer 4 years, LA Board 8 years.
Adjunct Faculty: Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA