Mel Schnur grew up in Newark, New Jersey where he graduated from Weequahic High School. He attended Farleigh Dickinson University and went on to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Mel Schnur began photographing all subjects, including social documentation, nature and landscape photography, becoming well versed in all mediums of photography. He completed his studies at Jersey City State College graduating Cum Laude.

Mel Schnur later traveled across the country, arriving in Berkeley, California. Here he began to expand his professional career, gaining exceptional experience in photography studios and developing unique photographic skills. He learned to use photography to define his persona as an artist, not simply as a commercial photographer.

He later found himself amid the first generation of CIBAchrome printing technicians in the 1970’s, and received accolades as he began to expand his portfolio. He gained an exceptional understanding of the printing and development process, and worked with several noted photographers.

Beginning as Darkroom Manager at Livingston College in New Jersey, photography director at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey, and founder of ImageWorks Studio and Gallery in North Plainfield, Mel Schnur went on to exhibit throughout the eastern region; at Drew University, Jersey City Museum, Fox Museum, Hunterdon Art Center, Monmouth Museum, Noyes Museum, Watchung Art Center, Mortimer Gallery, Trenton State Museum, among many others –  and also received multiple accolades in local publications. In 1987 Mel received a Fellowship award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in the Visual Arts.

He lives in Bluffton, SC and continues to create photographs.