About Jonny Miller (Jonny Badgood) · Contact Jonny Miller · Motion & Commercial Video Direction · Behind the Scenes · Tear Sheets & Published Work · Projects & Case Studies · Athletic Photography · Automotive Photography · Aviation Photography · Industrial Photography · Lifestyle Photography · Personal Photography · Portrait Photography
About
I’m a creative. It’s the marrow in my bones. I tried the practical path with a year and a half of pre-med, but my life force is in the art I make. I see the world differently than most, I’ve never fit neatly in a box, and I’ve never done things the conventional way. For the creative directors out there, the best way I can describe my work is honest and cinematic.
I’m endlessly curious, with an unwavering belief that I can be great at anything I set my mind to, even things I’ve never done before. That comes in handy when a shoot throws something new at me. I follow my vision and I trust myself.
I live to serve others and to create spaces of courage, collaboration and play. You’ll feel it in how I run a set: everyone on a project matters, and I want them going home proud of what we made together.
Life is more exciting with passion, and I’m so grateful for this work. It’s taken me to places I only dreamed of, introduced me to the coolest people, and given me a behind the scenes look into all kinds of industries. Best of all, I get to amplify other people’s stories through my own perspective.
When I’m not on set, I’m usually on a golf course, riding a bike, or meditating on a stump somewhere outdoors.
I help brands create work that feels true to who they are and their vision. Small and nimble or large scale, whatever it takes to get the job done. My best work happens when the pressure is on and I allow my expertise, instincts and creativity to take the driver’s seat. My true gift is aligning with my client’s vision and message and protecting that every step of the way. I love to create enough structure for everything to run smoothly but leave enough room for magic in the moment. You’re not just hiring a photographer, you’re bringing in a creative partner, and some of my client relationships span more than a decade.
Whether it’s a national campaign or a portrait for a founder, my goal is work that feels honest, human, and true to the people behind it.
Projects
Automotive · Toyota
The frame I'm proudest of from this job is a composite. If you know how I work, that's a little funny. I'd rather shoot everything for real, with real cars on real streets and real motion blur. Post is where you fix things, and I don't like needing to fix things.
But this was Dallas in August, and it was 110 degrees.
Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi needed stills and motion for the launch of the all-new Crown: the model page on Toyota.com, plus social, all out of one production. We had five days. Two on downtown streets under road closures and rolling closures, two in the studio, and one on plates.
The heat ran the schedule more than I did. Keeping talent and crew cool and hydrated became the real job, and more than one person had to step off set to recover. We'd moved interiors into the studio partly to get out of it. It rained both studio days. Sometimes you get lucky and let people think it was planning.
The streets didn't give anything up easily. We put a crane six stories in the air and shot long for a bird's-eye view of the car rounding a corner. The wind was working against us up top, we had traffic and pedestrians locked down below, and the clock was running out. It was the hardest shot of the week. The agency cut it in post. That's the business.
There wasn't time in the schedule for a boom rig, so I put a zoom on the U-crane arm for the running stills. That lens picked up bounce a prime would have ignored. So we did it the old way, shooting out of the back of another car on a gyro until the blur looked the way I wanted.
Then came the cafe. The hero shot had us inside, with the Crown out on the street and too far away for any arm to reach. I tried a slider to drag the background and get the blur in camera. It didn't work.
So we did the thing I avoid. We spun the wheels, shot plates, and handed it to the retouchers at Recom Farmhouse. The slider at least gave them real background blur to build from instead of something invented on a screen. They nailed it.
I still want to shoot everything for real. That picture exists because the team was better than my rule.
17 stills. 4 videos.
Client: Toyota; Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi; Production: Bad Good Productions and Ink & Oranges; Director / Photographer: Jonny Miller; DP: Andrew Hajek; Retouching: Recom Farmhouse
Aviation · American Airlines
I walked the new lounge at JFK the day before the shoot and didn't think we'd get it. There were tarps everywhere. Half the furniture wasn't there, and it was opening to the public the morning after our shoot. The construction crew had about twelve hours to get it ready. The whole team had already flown in, so we were going to find out.
I've been shooting for American Airlines since 2016, in a dozen states and two continents. This shoot was different. It was a joint lounge with British Airways for first class and top status travelers, and both airlines would be using the pictures. The space had its own personality: warm wood, ornate bars, a lot of character. The spirit of American still had to be in there. It just had to show up quietly. Neither airline could outshine the other.
We weren't the only production in the building. British Airways had hired a film crew for the same day, in the same unfinished space. The lounge had two levels, which saved us. Our producer, Traci Trail, worked with their producers to keep the crews on separate floors. We still ended up in the same room once. I was shooting continuous light too, so we shared it instead of fighting over it.
The construction crew was working while we shot. We followed them room to room, and every time one space was finished before another, the schedule changed. For the lifestyle work, that was manageable. If a tarp sat just outside the frame, you'd never know. A lot of careful framing happened that day.
The architecture was a different problem. You can't frame around a tarp in an empty room shot. The whole point is to see the room. So we pushed those to the end of the day and bet the finishing crews would be done by then.
They weren't. We were already behind, but I was determined to finish the shot list without overtime.
Those were the fastest interiors I've ever shot. There was no time to study a room or walk it twice. I walked in, found where the space wanted to be seen from, shot it, and moved to the next one. The designers had lit it beautifully, which is the only reason that worked. The rest was instinct. Fifteen years of experience showing up when there was no time to think.
The pictures ran in the press releases for the opening and on both airlines' websites. There are several photos from this one that won't leave my book for a long time.
Client: American Airlines; Partner: British Airways; Production: Bad Good Productions; Photographer: Jonny Miller; Producer: Traci Trail; Retouching: Lookout Digital
Portrait · American Airlines
I jumped at the chance to take these portraits. For years I had flown American Airlines and looked at the seatback photos and imagined how I would do it. The old ones were outdated and over-retouched.
Before a shoot I like to clear my head and relax so I can be fully present on shoot day. This time I took my Onewheel out for a cruise and I had a very specific thought. If I break my arm, can I get to the hospital and still shoot tomorrow? I'd never fallen off before and ignored the thought. Naturally, my next thought was, how fast can this thing actually go?
Turns out 23 mph. That is until it cut out and sent me flying.
I picked myself up with my pants ripped from hip to ankle and road rash down my arms and legs. Then my phone rang. It was a producer, calling to tell me I didn't get a job I'd bid on, pouring salt in my open wounds.
All I could do was laugh.
The next morning, I showed up bandaged to photograph the face of American Airlines, embarrassed to tell anyone what happened.
It was peak summer in Texas. A safety video was being filmed in a hangar, so we built our studio in a cramped storage unit inside it. The portable AC helped a little. I still managed to sweat through my bandages.
I don't do anything dangerous before a shoot anymore.
My job was relatively simple. Capture a genuine welcoming smile that would greet millions of travelers every day.
These weren't models. They were flight attendants who knew millions of strangers would see these pictures, and most of them were self-conscious, hot and exhausted. My mission was clear. Nobody left until they were happy. Sharing about my unfortunate accident was surprisingly a great way to change the energy. Nothing quite like a little self-deprecating humor to raise the spirits of others.
We shot over 40 people in two days and delivered countless versions to account for the different size screens and operating systems.
Occasionally, the person on the seat in front of me is working my flight. They tell me they love it when friends and family fly and see their face on the seat.
That never gets old.
Client: American Airlines; Photographer: Jonny Miller; Retouching: Imaginary Lines
Lifestyle · Toyota
Toyota is the official mobility sponsor for Vail Resorts, and I've shot this partnership in winter and summer for years. This one was the summer outdoor board campaign: 150 region-specific stills across three mountains in three states. Beaver Creek in Colorado, Northstar in California, Mount Snow in Vermont. One scout day and two shoot days at each.
Beaver Creek was a breeze compared to the rest of the shoot.
There were wildfires in California. No flames near us, just smoke, and how much of it depended entirely on which way the wind was blowing that hour. On the scout we couldn't get up most of the mountain. In town we walked down to the lake and couldn't see the lake from the shore. Our first shoot day ended early because the air quality got bad enough that we couldn't be outside.
The last shot of that day was two mountain bikers going over a Toyota truck. They sent it, we got the shot, but it could have been better. The height coming off was unpredictable, so I asked if they'd be willing to run it again for a different angle. Both of them were in.
The second time did not go as well. One of the riders landed on her front wheel and broke her collarbone. We had emergency on site, got her to the hospital, and she went into surgery and came out fine and in good spirits. A little rough end to the day.
At dinner that night, our digital tech, Eric, told us he was staying an extra day to ride before we flew to Vermont. We told him to be careful as he joked that he could still work with a broken collarbone.
The next night, on my way to dinner, my phone rang. Eric was leaving the hospital with a broken collarbone. I thought he was messing with me. He was not.
He flew home thinking he wouldn't need surgery. His doctor said otherwise, and that he was not going to Vermont. Nothing like scrambling to find a replacement two days before a shoot in a state you’ve never shot in. We found a tech I'd never worked with, brought him along, and crossed our fingers. We've worked together many times since.
Vermont was its own can of worms. The leaves had already started to turn, and this was a summer campaign. On top of that, Mount Snow was installing a new lift during our shoot days. They were flying the towers up the mountain by helicopter, which meant we couldn't be in or under the flight path. Our options for where to shoot got narrow, and every time we needed to cross the mountain we had to coordinate with the pilot and the crew and wait for a window.
One area we'd scouted was supposed to be finished. It wasn't. Which derailed our whole afternoon and we needed to pivot. So I asked for five minutes, stepped away, and did a grounding exercise. Breathing, clearing my head, I came back with a different plan for the day and we went to work.
In order to deliver on the ambitious shot list, I built a small story at each location: a wide establishing frame and hero shot of the vehicle, then the action, then the people and the connection between them. I shot nearly 30,000 frames and delivered 150 fully retouched images. I felt bad for Eric, who spent a long-time taking fall leaves off the ground and changing the color of the trees while recovering from surgery.
My favorite frame is from California, at the very end of a day. The sun was setting and backlighting all that smoke. We brought in leaf blowers to kick up a little more dust, and the 4Runner sat in the middle of it.
Clients: Vail Resorts and Toyota; Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi; Production: Bad Good Productions; Photographer: Jonny Miller; Producer: Traci Trail; Retouching: Lookout Digital
Portrait · Brand Launch
A friend was opening a salon and wanted the launch imagery to match the room they'd built rather than look like every other salon site. I shot B-roll, the empty space, and portraits of a dozen stylists in one day. One black and white and one environmental for each.
The problem with a dozen stylists is that they all have their own look, and the job is to let each one be themselves while the set still reads as one body of work. I moved around the salon trying spots before I found the one that worked for everybody.
That spot had natural light in it, which meant the sun changed on me all day. Keeping the look consistent from the first stylist to the last was most of the work.
One person couldn't make it, so I came back another day and rebuilt the setup from scratch to match. You can't tell which one she is.
The look is film. Grain, soft highlights, lifted shadows, muted color. I built the profile in Capture One so it would hold across the whole set.
There was no final cut on the video. They got a library of footage, graded and ready, to pull from for social however they want it.
I shot, lit, filmed, edited, retouched, and graded all of it myself.
Automotive · Lexus
This collection was a one-day shoot at a Lexus dealership in Dallas for the Lexus Care maintenance program. The brief was straight forward: build a library with as much range as we could in a single day, covering the service experience from the customer side and the technician side.
We hired talent and used Lexus service technicians. Most of the images wouldn't be seen next to each other so we were able to use talent for customers and sales reps and maximize talent budget and image variety.
The dealership gave us the run of the place, which is the whole reason a day like this works. The clients and I collaborated on the shot list, including the must haves and allowing for some creative magic on set.
Client: Lexus; Photographer: Jonny Miller; Producer: Traci Trail; Retouching: Lookout Digital
Aviation · American Airlines
One project, two shoots a week apart. Two days at DCA for the airport experience, then two days in New York on the aircraft. Same hero talent across both, different extras. We were shooting before the inaugural flight, so the images had to be ready for the press release.
The airport days are mostly logistics. Moving gear, talent, wardrobe, and crew through security in an active terminal is a process, and it takes coordination and patience from everybody. A few hiccups with talent and airport management, nothing that stopped us.
New York was the plane. This was a library shoot, and the risk on a library shoot is that volume costs you quality. My team knows how to move fast without getting careless.
We broke for lunch and I wasn't happy. Everything on the list was in the can and it was good. It checked every box. But there was a spirit missing from it, and if I finished the day the way I'd started it, we'd deliver exactly what was asked for and nothing more.
So I cut my lunch fifteen minutes short and went back to the plane alone. I sat in it and thought about what was possible in there.
When talent and crew came back on board, I was ready. The clients were still finishing up, so for a while it was just us. I stopped shooting the features and started shooting the feeling. What I wanted a passenger to feel sitting in that seat, not what the seat does.
By the time the clients boarded, I was deep in it. They watched for a minute and let me keep going. They'd toss in a note here and there, but they kept the flow instead of breaking it. I knew it was working when they were more excited than I was.
That hour produced their favorite images from the whole job. All of it artificial light, built to look like it wasn't.
Turnaround was two weeks, with 5 images due in 3 days. I edit before I deliver. The client gets the frames that work, not everything I shot, which saves them the sifting and means I'm happy with whatever they pick.
We delivered 170 fully retouched images.
Client: American Airlines; Photographer: Jonny Miller; Producer: Traci Trail; Retouching: Lookout Digital
Contact: jonny@jonnybadgood.com · 314.540.2812
Athletic
Automotive
Aviation
Lifestyle
Portrait
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Industrial
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