We are proud to present Scott Montgomery’s personal project The Reader, recently featured in the Workbook Weekly, the place to see great work. It is beautifully crafted storytelling using motion and imagery,

Tired of scrolling and binging watching during the first Covid wave that gripped New York City during the winter of 2020, photographer/director Scott began reading to his wife one evening in bed.  The sense of intimacy it created transformed them, and for Scott it was the inspiration for the story that he wanted to tell.

He began with a simple story line about a young woman living in Brooklyn.  She and her boyfriend love books and read to each other as a way to decompress after work.  She wants to share this experience with others and decides she can build a side hustle: a personal reading service. People respond.

Scott began casting in the spring of 2021 but complications due to Covid brought shooting to a halt. But in the Spring of 2022 he met Jenna, an ICU nurse who had worked throughout the pandemic in NYC. She embodied all the  traits of the character he called The Reader. And coincidentally, in real life, her boyfriend would read to her to calm her down after a particularly difficult shift. Scott now had the full narrative.

Scott shot both stills and motion and the blending of the two plays to his strength as a storyteller. As he told us, “…For a long time I’ve lit still scenes with a gaffer using motion continuous light. It’s rounder and softer than strobe and I prefer the look. Only gear change is camera. Second, I’m my own DP for main camera. Seamless continuity from stills to motion. Third, narrative story is my natural voice.  My stills have always resembled a moment pulled from a movie…. now they link together to make mini-movies.”

“Researching the subject, I expected to find a focus on kids or the elderly.  I was wrong. Reader clubs exist! Better yet, as we’ve started to show the piece, person after person has messaged and shared a story. We struck a nerve – The gift of reading out loud,” says Scott. See the Workbook promotion here. Find more updates and follow Scott @scott_mont

Click on the Images below to view The Reader and accompanying images.