About
Director, DP, Stills Photographer
Specialty: Directing people/lifestyle focused motion & stills content for leading Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Home and Banking brands... plus a lot of other stuff.
Clients Include:
Memorial Sloan Kettering, Novo Nordisk, SoFi, State Street, T-Mobile,
Novartis, Abbott Laboratories, Verizon, Andersen Windows, Damen (EU), US Army, Pfizer, AbbVie, Sunovion, PSE&G, General Electric, AEP (Amer Electric Power), National Park Service, Hawaii Tourism, Land O’ Lakes, Nationwide Insurance, United Healthcare, Zoetis, Pennsylvania Tourism, Proctor & Gamble, Lennar, Shea Homes, Newland Communities, Taylor Wimpey, Del Webb, Werther’s, Wyndham, Sheraton.
Lurzer's Archive 200Best (Global) 2022-Current
IMBD Scott Montgomery
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:
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. Cue a real action they’re familiar with and the room to show us.
Story:
I’m protective of the term Story. She has worn tattered edges from overuse along with Design, Authentic and a few others. In a stormy ocean of online howling, we still lean into solid story craft. Audience will not fade from an interesting story well told.
My family is from a mill town south of Pittsburgh filled with stout working people, local bars, rusted trucks and church on Sunday. 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 gritty work ethic and blind romantic optimism.
Real stories are never easy or perfect…. 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 magic I'm happy to share over a good meal.
A creative life picked me as a naive NC State freshman. 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 always came 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”.
Daughters unlocked me and changed my entire portfolio focus from what I thought was "Cool" to what I was looking for all along. Family, Relationships, Home.
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 - the Dodgers are LA). 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:
Lurzer’s Archive global 200best list 2022 to Current
Communication Arts Photo Annual (multiple years)
American Photography 36 & 41
Big Apple Film Festival 2026: ISHues - Feature Documentary Finalist
Depth of Field Int Film Festival 2026: ISHues - Best of Show
Interviews:
Canvas Rebel
A Photo Editor: The Art of the Personal Project
APA DC: How I shot this w/ Scott Montgomery
School of Visual Arts - BFA Photo
Professor: Academy of Art, remote
Adjunct Faculty: Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
Advertising Photographers of America: National Treasurer 4 years, LA Board 8 years.