Emily Shur has a comic’s sense of humor, a conceptualist’s talent for the unexpected, and a fashionista’s inclination for beauty. She is known for portraits that beckon viewers with a sly wink while always showing her subjects in their best light, whether it’s a celebrity, superstar athlete, everyday newsmaker, or talent who’ve been cast for a campaign. Having gotten her start as a documentary shooter, Emily is equally drawn to found moments that become compelling when framed by her camera. In 2017, Kehrer Verlag published her first monograph, Super Extra Natural!, showcasing 135 photographs shot on film during 12 years of happy wanderings in Japan. As she noted in an interview with The Guardian, “It was clear from the start that in Japan I had found my place—a country whose natural beauty is accentuated by thoughtful design, a culture that values simplicity and kindness, yet also embraces the completely absurd.”
Emily majored in photography at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, graduating with the Artist Award for Creative Excellence. She won the Art Director’s Club Young Guns global competition early in her career, and her images have since been published in Milk and Honey: Contemporary Art in California, Photographers’ Sketchbooks and numerous editions of American Photography, among other collections. Emily has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London's National Portrait Gallery. In 2018, she collaborated with artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, as well as Wyatt Gallery, to reimagine Norman Rockwell's iconic "Four Freedoms" for the present day. In 2022, 16 images from the series were released by Assembly Curated as an NFT collection.
Emily's clients include Apple TV+, Paramount+, HBO, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Disney, Coke, Budweiser, Capital One, Uber, Sprite, Chrysler, Dodge, Alaska Airlines, KFC, Samsung, Facebook Watch, Nike, Adidas, Priceline, Frontier Communications, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Bravo, NBC, CBS, A&E, Turner Networks, Nat Geo TV, Fox, Toyota, Sprint, Dell, Secret, American Express, MTV, and FanDuel. She lives in Los Angeles.
Select press
"For Freedoms Encourages People to Take a Seat at the Table with Rockwell-Inspired NFT," ARTnews
"Updating Norman Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms' for a Modern, Diverse America," The New York Times
"Super Extra Natural: Emily Shur Chronicles 12 Years of Travel in Japan," Creative Boom
"Land of Lines and Silence: Emily Shur's Japan, in Pictures," The Guardian
"Shizenkan by Emily Shur,"by Emily Shur," Fraction Magazine
"Emily Shur, Photographic Japan Across a Decade," Pen
"Film Talks #15:Emily Shur," Fotofilmic