Greencard Pictures has signed Los Angeles-based director and photographer Ben Pier for U.S. commercial still photography and directing projects, adding a filmmaker whose work blends spontaneity, youth culture, music, and cinematic storytelling.
Pier’s style is rooted in real people and natural environments, with an emphasis on movement, energy and candid moments. Rather than defining youth culture by age, he approaches it as a state of mind and avoids work that feels overly staged or polished. That sensibility runs through projects for i-D Magazine, The New York Times, Meta, Vans and Nike SB, as well as his music video for Ben Harper’s “Before the Rain Dried.”
Pier began shooting photography while in high school in St. Louis before attending art school in Chicago and later moving to New York City. Photography came first, but he says directing never felt like a separate discipline. His still work was already cinematic, often placing subjects in larger scenarios and implying a narrative beyond the frame.
That transition into motion accelerated through the punk scene, where bands he had photographed began asking him to direct their music videos.
His interest in advertising grew from an early fascination with the intersection of media, art and culture. Pier cites movies, television, records and comic books as formative influences, along with the skate and snowboard magazines where advertising often felt inseparable from the culture surrounding it.
The relationship with Greencard developed quickly after Pier met founder and executive producer Emily Kim Wiedemann.
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“Emily and I hit it off right away, and I loved the perspective she brought to my work,” Pier said. “Her notes and edits blew me away, and everyone she has around her is incredible. I never want to stop learning, and Greencard feels like a place where I can keep doing that. It was a really natural fit and progression for me.”
Wiedemann said Pier’s focus on people and joy made him a strong match for the company.
“I see a lot of joy in his projects,” she said. “He always celebrates people, no matter his chosen medium, and people are a big part of Greencard’s values.”
She added that Pier’s background across photography, film and music videos fits naturally with Greencard’s production history and the range of work the company wants to build.
Outside of commercial directing, Pier is developing a photobook with the working title Punkhouse, drawn from his archive of film photography documenting New York and touring life from the early 2000s through the 2010s. He hopes to publish and exhibit the work, with the possibility of eventually expanding the project into a film.
For Greencard, the signing brings in a multidisciplinary artist whose work feels lived-in rather than overworked – cinematic without losing the immediacy of a real moment.
REEL 360 News wishes Ben the best of luck at Greencard.
