About Me

G’Day! As you may not already know my name is Michael Scott (WOW! 2 first names), and thats where the Scott Photographics originated from. There isn’t much to talk about when it comes to me, besides all this photographic business, but to give you a bit of an idea here is some filler.

I first became interested in photography when my parents gave me a small Kodak Easyshare C513 digital compact for Christmas (hang on, digital? How old is this guy?), good question, I’m about 19 – plus a few months. Anyway, it wasn’t long before I was experimenting with composition, angles (“why is this photo crooked” said mum), panning and pretty much everything that the little brick of a camera could do. After spending a couple of months in New Zealand on exchange in 2008 I had become totally infatuated with photography. I was pushing the limits of my compact and almost a month later I had my very first D-SLR, the Sony a350!

In comparison to my Kodak Easyshare the a350 was absolute luxury – full manual control, a proper wide-angle lens, APS-C size sensor, 14.2 Mega Pixels (unheard of), tilty LCD screen and a big optical viewfinder (mandatory for looking like a pro). From that point onwards my ability as a wannabe amateur had sky rocketed. The potential for eyebrow raising masterpieces was all at the touch of a button, all I had to do now was get educated. Being the youngster I am my first point of call was the Internet, everything I needed to know was going to come from YouTube and websites alike. Countless hours were spent browsing Flickr for inspiration and inspecting the photographers EXIF data to understand (or in other words replicate) camera settings. All in the meantime, my prominence as a photographer was growing and soon I was carrying my camera to almost every outing. I even superseded my older brother as the “family photographer”, what a momentous turning point that was (sorry bro).

Later in my secondary schooling I offered my services (free of charge…of course) as a photographer for school events and sporting competitions. Additionally I was studying Studio Arts as a final year subject, which introduced a new mindset that photography could be more than just a jpeg on your computer, but a serious art form. Also it was a great opportunity to gain access to all the schools professional printing resources. This in turn had a profound “artistic” influence on my photography and had set me up with a very usable portfolio – which led me to my next milestone.

In my last year of schooling I was face down in books, as busy as a bee (didn’t make any honey though), so much so that I had left my camera on the shelf to collect dust. To be honest though I had neglected it on account of my worn out 18-70mm lens, having photographed quite possibly beyond its life expectancy it made a horrible clacking noise. Nevertheless, once I had proven to my self that I could be an engineer and go to university I set out in search of a job that would in some ways supplement my photographic passion. Early 2012, I managed to get a job at a camera store, awesome! Working with photography and around people who have so much knowledge is almost an education in its self. In one year I learnt an enormous amount, much more than what I did in five years of surfing the web.

So, here I am now, 2013, the dawn of new beginnings with my latest big camera purchase to kick it all off.

Checkout my Portfolio!

What am I packing?

Cameras

Sony a99V (2013) – My primary camera of choice, only just got it and loving it!

Sony a350 (2008) – Used and abused, it has traversed many lands and oceans.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1 (2009) – The trusted waterproof, shockproof, and idiotproof compact (for the holidays).

Pentax ME Super – Daddy’s old 35mm, a bit of fun when playing with film. An amazingly large & bright viewfinder.

Lenses

Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM (2013) – Bought it with my a99, couldn’t recommend it enough!

Minolta AF 50mm 1.7 (22) (2nd-hand 2013) – Bought off eBay.

Sony 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 DT SAM (2012) – Your average kit lens – a bit soft, but robust and does the job.

Sony 55-200mm 4-5.6 DT SAM (2008) – Bought with my a350, great economical APS-C telephoto.

Pentax 50mm F2 – Bokehlicious.