Legendary Photographer Neil Montanus

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Master of Photography, Professional Photographers of America
Fellow, American Society of Photographers

Neil Montanus’ 35-year photographic career at Kodak was truly epic. He traveled around the globe, shooting in some of the world's most exotic locations, traversing more than 32 different countries in the process. He toured Europe on multiple occasions, Africa, Australia, South America, India, Taiwan, the South Pacific and even spent several nights with a former headhunting tribe in the jungles of Borneo. As a result, Neil’s career at Kodak has been called legendary by many.

Originally hired as a portrait specialist in 1954, he quickly began to carve out several new areas of specialization, aggressively pursuing these areas and beginning to form his own unique style outside of the mainstream of typical Kodak advertising shots, which were somewhat formulaic in those days. Neil’s work quickly propelled him to one of Kodak’s top photographers and eventually he became the most celebrated photographer in the history of the company. His adventures and world travels became fodder for hundreds of articles in local, national and even international publications.

His resume includes the ‘best portrait ever’ of Walt Disney (still in use today), the official presidential portrait of Gerald Ford, and a fellowship with the American Society of Photographers, one of only 27 photographers to hold that distinction when he was awarded it in 1977. And he won several international photography salons.

But his success had to do with not only his great talent and unmitigated passion for photography, but his work ethic. The sheer volume of work he created was astounding. He created prodigious amounts of work. He almost never stopped shooting. Pictures from our family picnics or shots of Christmas morning often wound up on the side of Kodak Film products or in national advertising campaigns. And he excelled and perfected so many areas of expertise - photographing dance, nudes, fine art, fine portraiture, landscapes, underwater - too many to name. And when he took up underwater photography, like everything else he did, he excelled in it - pioneering underwater photography techniques and taking the world’s largest underwater photograph ever produced to this day, an 18x60 foot a Kodak Colorama which hung in New York’s Grand Central Station on December 27, 1962 to January 12, 1963.

Neil continued to do underwater photography for Kodak, diving is some of the most exotic diving locations in the world including the great barrier reef, various locations in the Caribbean and exotic islands in the South Pacific. And just for practice, Neil and his diving buddies did a variety of dives in the area, including under-ice dives in winter and night dives in various Finger Lakes to hone his dive skills as well as underwater photography skills.

And his crowning achievement was probably his work on the famed Kodak Colorama project, putting him in the same company as Ansel Adams - who shot several - and Norman Rockwell, who art directed one in his iconic style. Once forgotten and now considered an important part of photographic history, 55 of the 565 Coloramas were shot by Neil. From shooting the ‘best portrait ever’ of Walt Disney to living with a former headhunting tribe in the jungles of Borneo - Neil has seen and done just about everything you can do photographically.

Originally hired as a portrait specialist, Neil was asked to do the official White House portrait of President Gerald Ford, taken in the Oval Office after Nixon's resignation in 1974.

A little risqué for Kodak's wholesome image at the time, this ad appeared in Playboy magazine circa 1971, and features Georgia Durante, one of Neil's all-time favorite models.

In 1956 - two years after Neil landed his dream job at Kodak - he created this self-portrait.

Classic image of Kodak's photographic studio on the third floor of Kodak Office in Rochester, NY. Each photographer had their own studio space as shown. With 22 staff photographers at the time, this number was eventually whittled down to two people at present. View larger image.

The famed Kodak Summer Girl program began around the turn of the century in Ladies Home Journal. Neil began shooting the Summer Girls in the mid-60's which included an Olympic Gold medalist (Mary Decker), Cybil Shephard, Miss USA, and a variety of other top NY, LA, Toronto and Rochester models. These iconic advertisements were life-sized cardboard cutouts meant for Kodak film dealers and drug stores around the world to promote the sales of Kodak film and cameras. The model was always holding the product they wanted to feature that year.

Australian Rules Football, championship game, 1979.

This portrait of Neil's son Daniel won "Best portrait" in the Kodak International Salon of Photography, 1958.

Young boys working in Tea fields outside of Nairobi Kenya, 1989.

After retiring from Kodak, Neil spent eight summers in Yosemite National Park as a Kodak Ambassador where his job was to give early morning photo/nature walks through pristine natural areas, afternoon photo seminars and at night, slide shows to hundreds of people in a natural outdoor amphitheatre in Yosemite Village. This allowed Neil to pursue his other passion: teaching photography.

Rancher in Australian outback, 1979.

Brazilian Fisherman, 1978.

Neil shooting in Spain in the late 50's with 8x10 view camera.

Neil became Kodak's underwater photography specialist beginning in the late 50's and dove in many of the best diving locations throughout the world. Pictured above is the wreck of the Cali in Georgetown Harbor, Grand Cayman in the mid-70's.

Model at Chimney Bluffs. along Lake Ontario in central New York. Neil was asked by an art director to create something 'different' for an advertising campaign for what was then the sharpest color film in the world, Ektar 25. Having recently come into possession of a giant bubble-making device, this is what he came up with. Mission accomplished as the art director loved the shot.

Boats in Bahia, Brazil, 1975.
In the mid-70's, Neil was traveling extensively around the world creating advertising photographs that would eventually be used in Kodak's foreign markets. He spent several weeks in Brazil touring the country and created volumes of work while on assignment there.
Kodak often assigned local Kodak staff with extensive regional knowledge to accompany Neil on his travels. But many of them simply couldn't hack the frenetic self-imposed pace of Neil's shooting schedule. He often drove his assistants to complete exhaustion within just a few days and often had to be replaced. This was especially true in Brazil with the hot and humid climate.

Australia, 1979

One of Neil's very early assignments, photographing the assembly of 35 mm Kodak rangefinder cameras at what was then an enormous industrial complex known as Kodak Park in Rochester.

Early product shot of Kodak Stereo camera, 1956.

Talking with children in the Peruvian Andes along what was then an arduous hike up to the lost city of Machu Pichu.

Neil and Cybil Shephard taking a lunch break on the beach on Long Island, NY during a photo shoot early in her career.

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