Dick Scott
Email: dscott@rcscottphotography.com
I am married and my beautiful wife Shawn and I just celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We have no children by choice. I was born in Tampa, FL and have lived here most of my life, except for 4 years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and 10 years working in the Atlanta, GA area. While in Atlanta, I worked for a time at The Weather Channel as the Manager of the Design and Integration Department which was responsible for broadcast systems design and installation. After getting out of the Air Force I spent almost 11 Years as a Broadcast Engineer at a local TV station here in Tampa. I eventually went from engineering to sales and engineering and worked for several different television integration companies, all but one of them as Branch Manager. After many years I began getting tired of dealing with customers and a staff and all the headaches that can bring so when I went to The Weather Channel I went back to doing what I love the most, which is engineering. I still had a staff but those guys were great and I enjoyed every minute that I worked with them. I eventually got an offer I couldn’t refuse from a manufacturer and left The Weather Channel. That job enabled me to travel the world for several years and to see things I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise. I was able to walk on the Great Wall of China twice and travel literally around the world. It also enabled me to make several trips to Alaska. I went all the way up to Barrow, AK in February where the temperature was around -30 degrees fahrenheit, even lower with the wind chill, which is certainly different from Florida where I grew up. I also got a chance to mush a dogsled on the Arctic Ocean. Great fun but the owner of the dogs and sled was right there with me on the sled. Actually, I was very glad because you have no idea how much power a dog team has. They are fantastic athletes and love to run. Still, an awesome adventure.
I spent over 50 years in the broadcast television industry. I retired in March of 2019 just in time for this pandemic. Lucky me. I now spend as much time shooting and making YouTube videos as I can but its sometimes difficult because I have to try and stay as safe as I can at my age. I have now had both Covid 19 shots and I feel more comfortabe going out now than I did before the shots. I will still wear a mask and social distance but I feel a little safer after having both shots. I usually go to wetlands around Florida or to parks, especially Florida State Parks. The number of visitors at parks and wetland areas has increased tremendously during the pandemic. It’s getting harder and harder to get away from people. I used to be able to go out to these same locations and maybe not see anyone all day, but not any more. The same is true of camping with my trailer. It is almost impossible to get a Florida State Park campsite reservation. They are booked for the next year. If you are diligent, you may get a cancellation if you are very persistant and check regularly. As the old saying goes, it is what it is, so you just have to go with the flow and do the best you can.
Now that you know my life story, let’s get to the photography. I started doing photography over 45 years ago during the film days. I shot mostly B&W and color slides and used a Konica T2. I even had my own lab in a guest bathroom in my house. After several years of developing and printing my own pictures, I got very busy with my career and didn’t shoot for several years. By the time I got back into photography digital cameras had come out and I went to digital. My first digital camera was a Canon Rebel with 6 megapixels. I eventually went to a Canon T3i and then stepped up to a 7D Mark II. The Canon 6D was my first full frame camera. Eventually I bought a Canon 5D Mark III. I had several Canon lenses like the EF 100-400mm V2, EF 400mm f/5.6 Prime, EF 16-35mm f/4 and EF 24-105mm /f4. I shot Canon for many years until I started doing YouTube videos on my RC Scott Photography (RCSP Florida) YouTube Channel. I wanted to shoot video in 4K so I started with the Panasonic GH4 and quickly moved to the GH5. I really enjoyed shooting with a mirrorless camera and kept waiting for Canon to come out with a professional mirrorless camera but I got tired of waiting. I ended up buying the Sony A7RIII and eventually sold all of my Canon gear, which broke my heart, and went totally Sony. I now shoot with the Sony A7SIII, A7RIV and the A7RIII. For lenses I have the FE 100-400mm GM, FE 24-105mm G, FE 200-600mm G and the 28-70mm kit lens. So far, I have been happy with all of the Sony cameras and lenses. I also shoot with a GoPro 7 Black and Insta360 camera. Occasionally I will still use the GH5 for timelaspe. It’s still a great camera
That gets you up to date on my life history. I hope some of the best days are still to come once this is all over, assuming I survive.
Stay safe and get out and shoot. You can’t learn to be a better photographer sitting in your easy chair.
Dick Scott