After Kieth Merrill watched the new DVD we produced on the Prophet Joseph, he asked me a number of questions about photography.  He convinced me that a number of you Meridian readers would be interested in my answers.  Below are my responses to his questions.

Kieth:    First of all, do you shoot film any more or only digital?

Scot:    I want to give you the long answer on this one.  I attended a professional photographer’s conference about ten years ago in Salt Lake City.  I don’t remember a great deal about the conference, but I do remember this one statement that was made in one of the larger sessions:  “In ten years you will all be shooting digital—and that’s just the way it is.”  I said to my self, “He is dead wrong.  I will always be a film guy—I will never go digital.”  At that point I had already been a serious photographer for over twenty years.  Of course I had invested untold thousands of dollars in camera equipment that only shoots film.  Alas, I only shoot digital now. 

Kieth:    What caused you to make the switch?

Scot:    The Nauvoo Temple dedication was the turning point for me.  That was such a high-water mark event in my life to that point and I knew that I couldn’t keep up with all that would happen there by shooting film.  I made the switch and I’m so glad I did.  The photo essays that we did on Nauvoo (www.ldsmag.com/nauvoo) were seen and read by more than a million people on Meridian.

Kieth:    What camera do you use now?

Scot:    I actually am a Nikon guy. I shoot a Nikon D1X.  It is a professional model and does about everything I need it to do.  I have to interject something here.  In the digital world, just like in the personal computer world, you have to be careful about your thinking and what I might call “Jedi mind tricks.”  You can buy a wonderful digital camera at Best Buy or Costco or Circuit City or even Wal-Mart and as you’re walking out the door with the ink still fresh on your sales receipt someone will say to you (and be accurate—but this is the Jedi mind trick), “Oh, you just bought that new model digital camera?  Do you know that they just announced the new XYZ-upgraded model with the googlely-diddle mega-pixels capabilities?”  Of course, you’re demoralized and think that as you’re putting your shopping bag containing your new camera (that you’ve not shot one frame on) in the car that you’re already “behind.”  You just can’t think that way.  My Nikon D1X is now 3 ½ years old.  Of course I would like the new D2X.  Of course I would like this or that upgrade.  But for now, it still works fine and I just shoot away and enjoy photography and I don’t worry about the wave of technology that is washing over me.

Kieth:    What lenses do you have?

Scot:    Lenses are critical if you’re a serious amateur or professional.  I have a number of lenses and I have my favorites.

Kieth:    That was going to be my next question:  Not only what do you have but what are your favorites?

Scot:    In digital you have to remember that you have to multiply every focal length that you have by 1.5.  That means that if you have a 200 MM lens, in digital, that is equivalent to a 300 MM lens (200 x 1.5).  It really is a blessing on the long lenses and a killer on the wide angles.  That means if you have a 24 MM wide angle (which in film if a respectable lens), in digital, you only have a 36 MM wide angle (which is lacking somewhat).  Okay, so back to your question about which lenses I have, and these are all Nikkor lenses:  I have a 24-50 MM (f3.3 – f4.5); a 35-135 MM (f3.5 – f4.5); a 70-300 MM ED (f4 – f5.6); and finally a 80-400 MM VR (vibration reduction) ED (f4.5 – f 32).  That last lens (I just call it “the 400”) is by far my favorite.  I love to get intimate details. I love what a long lens does for photography—it compresses distance and gives a look and feel that I love.  I love what it does for portraits.  I love the way it handles light.  I love the overall versatility of that lens.  My only problem is that when I put that lens on my D1X body everyone says, “Now that is a camera” and it draws attention to itself.  I like to be quiet, behind the scenes, don’t make any waves—that just doesn’t happen when I’m using this lens.

Kieth:    Ok, think back to film days for a minute—what were your favorite brands of film, speeds, etc?

Scot:    Well, when we were shooting all of our photographic books in the early nineties we did them all on film.  We went through literally hundreds and hundreds (thousands) of rolls of film.  I really have to say I loved the professional Fujichrome products.  The reality of the colors I got out of that film made me very happy.  I felt like the greens and the yellows and the reds and even the earth tones were so much more accurate than any other product I used (and I used them all). I liked shooting 160 ISO.  It is a nice versatile speed.  I think for most consumer packs of film you have to choose either 200 ISO, 400 ISO or 800 ISO.  I always try to go with the lowest ISO because of my desire to enlarge certain photos later and capture the best possible image of whatever moment I’m taking.

Kieth:    Was all of your film work with a Nikon as well?

Scot:    Oh no, I have a whole field outfit that I used that was for publishing.  I have a Pentax 67 (60 x 70 MM or 2 ¼ x 2 ¾ inches) with a whole array of lenses that we used in the field.  It is a sweet, sweet camera and did some amazing work for us.  I always had a Nikon or two with us for back up—and they came in handy.  When we had traveled to the most remote regions of Oman in search of the most likely candidate for where Nephi built the ship, I remember the very first morning of shooting there.  We had been dropped off by a young Arab boy and his friends in a little 14-foot fishing boat and they had left to go back the 10 or 12 kilometers to their village.  I pulled out our field equipment, set up the camera, got all the settings just right—the light was perfect—and I took one frame with the Pentax and the camera went on the blink.  One frame!  We were there for two days and the Pentax never did work.  I was so grateful to have had the Nikon back up and to be able to record hundreds of images of that amazing place in Oman on 35 mm film.  Just a footnote:  the camera bag we carried around the world with our Pentax system in it is bullet proof.  Fortunately, we never had to hide behind it—but we came close too many times.

Kieth:    That sounds like the making of another article.

Scot:    That sounds like the making of another movie.

Kieth:    One last thing: you’ve just completed this amazing film on Joseph Smith, combining your love of photography with video, you’ve published all these photographic books over the years—if you could give a budding photographer three tips, what would they be?

Scot:    Easy.  If you love photography (AND I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY), then shoot.  Shoot all the time.  Take your camera everywhere.  If you’re using digital now, shoot hundreds of pictures at a time and then become your own best editor.  Don’t save all the outtakes—they’re not sacred.  Just delete, delete, delete. 

Learn from what you do each shoot (this is my second tip).  Study how you shoot.  Study your most common mistakes.  Take delight in the things that you do well.  Take note of how your wife or children or friends respond to showing your images to them.  If you have a certain picture or kind of picture you keep getting a “wooow” response from, or an “oooh” response, take note of that.  Capitalize on the things you do well.  Are you a close-up person?  Are you a landscape person?  Are you a nature photographer?  Do you love taking people?  Study yourself all the time and let your best tendencies emerge—then delight in them and refine them.

Lastly, and I have about a begillion more thoughts, learn how to use Adobe Photoshop.  It’s just a must.  It’s not that hard.  You can learn the basics and have fun or you can become a professional, but learn how to use it—then use it.  It’s a whole new world and photography will continue to play a critical role in the recording and joy of our lives—the tool of Photoshop enhances our ability to use this most critical tool.