Rory Kramer is an American photographer and filmmaker best known for directing music videos and his

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

show ''Dare to Live''.

Early life

Kramer was raised in

Tell City, Indiana Tell City is a city in Troy Township, Perry County, in the U.S. state of Indiana, along the Ohio River. The population was 7,272 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Perry County. History Tell City traces its 150+ year old roots ...

. His family owns a home in

Clear Lake, Indiana Clear Lake is a town located in the northeast corner of Steuben County, Indiana, in Clear Lake Township. As such, is the northeasternmost community in the State of Indiana. The population was 339 at the 2010 census. History Clear Lake became inco ...

Career

When he was 25, Kramer moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

, to pursue a career in acting. He began working as a content quality controller for streaming services. After living in Los Angeles for about four years, Kramer began making small

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

videos of his adventures. A friend offered Kramer a job touring with

3LAU Justin David Blau (born January 9, 1991), better known by his stage name 3LAU (pronounced "Blau"), is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer. Raised in New York and Las Vegas, 3LAU left Washington University in St. Louis, where he s ...

and making videos of 3LAU's performances. Later, Kramer made a music video for

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...

for the song "

The Nights "The Nights" is a song by Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii, featuring vocals from singer/songwriter Nicholas Furlong. On 1 December 2014, it was released as a digital download by PRMD Music and Universal Island on Avicii's ''The Days / N ...

" and toured with

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on '' DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...

. In 2016, Kramer directed the lyric video for

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM-pop duo achieved a breakthrough with thei ...

' song " Closer". The video reached one billion views on January 10, 2017. On February 4, 2018, the video reached two billion views, making it the first lyric video ever to have this many views. By September 2021, it was the 30th most-viewed video of all time, and the most viewed lyric video of all time with over 2.7 billion views on YouTube. In 2017, Kramer starred in an

show, ''Dare to Live'', which followed Kramer as he went with various celebrities on adventures. In 2020, Kramer co-directed the music video for ''

Stuck with U "Stuck with U" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande and Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was released through Republic Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Silent Records Ventures as a single on May 8, 2020. Both artists wrote the song alongsi ...

'', a duet by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

and

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

that won an MTV Award. On January 14, 2021, Kramer took 3,500 photos of Justin Bieber in three locations across

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. A photo showing Bieber crouched in Downtown Los Angeles' 2nd Street Tunnel became the cover photo for Bieber's 2021 album ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

''.

Awards

's Moon Man Award for 2020 Best Music Video From Home

Personal life

In July 2018, Kramer was driving his car and speeding on loose gravel when he lost control of the vehicle which spun out, hit a tree, and flipped upside down. His car was totaled and Kramer stated that a speaker in his car prevented the car from crushing him and saved his life. Following the accident, Kramer posted to his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account, stating that he was struggling with anxiety, depression, and his father's diagnosis with cancer, which had led to Kramer's reckless behavior. Kramer married Amy Disser on August 22, 2020 in Clear Lake, Indiana.

Videography

As television actor

Music videos

External links

References

American photographers American filmmakers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-photographer-stub