Photographers
RICHARD SCHULTZ
Richard Schultz is represented by Heather Elder
Commercial lifestyle photographer, Richard Schultz, began his career as a photojournalist 25 years ago shooting documentary and portrait images for magazines such as Vanity Fair and National Geographic. After about a dozen years of traveling around the world he transferred that natural documentary style to the world of advertising. With his seemingly laid-back shooting style he’s become known for helping clients create campaigns where authenticity and natural, real-feeling moments define their brands.
Schultz grew up along the coast of Massachusetts and had the benefit of a much older relative, Bill Eppridge – a legendary LIFE Magazine photographer in the late 60’s/70’s, mentor him in his early years. National Geographic photographer and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, Louis Psihoyos, picked up the reigns after college for Schultz and continued his mentorship. At age 23, Schultz went on his own and has never had the time to look back. It’s those early years of mentorship and training that continue to direct the natural-moment vision that he still now continues to bring to his imagery.
His consistency of natural moments, light, and feeling, but ability to understand the audience and specific branding messages have allowed him to shoot in a wide variety of genres from fashion to financial to pharmaceutical and have earned him entry into Archive’s 200 Best Advertising Photographer’s Worldwide every year from 2012-2016. Schultz has begun directing commercials and is currently working on a documentary film but continues his main passion for the still image. “There’s just a certain skill set that I love about being able to tell an entire story and mood and feeling in a single imperfectly-perfect still frame. I love film for everything that it can do with it’s story-telling for sure, but there’s just something that stirs me deep in my soul in creating the epic still [photo]. Even after 35 years of making pictures it totally thrills me every day.”
