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Art & Life with Scott Stockton

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Stockton.

Scott, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My story is an interesting one, I originally got into photography for shooting landscapes. I’d see gorgeous work by the likes of Trey Ratcliffe and think, “why buy something like that if you could take it yourself?!” What’s even funnier about that is, I lived in Germany my entire life until I moved to Charlotte NC for college. I was an Army brat and my parents took us all over Europe. Funny how being around all that beautiful scenery didn’t spark an interest in photography for me at that time. Even when I got an urge to jump into photography, I never actually purchased a camera until we had our first child, Ella. The day after my wife gave birth, my wife and I both and I said almost in unison, we gotta get a camera! So I ran down to the local camera shop, BIGGS Cameras and picked up our first camera, the Sony a6000 along with a 35mm f1.8. Once I started shooting, I couldn’t stop. I instantly became addicted to shooting portraits, landscape shooting was no longer in the picture. I was obsessed, I took course in person, I took courses online, and I practiced everyday like a friend. I was in love, this had became my passion.

All this time I had only been shooting kids and families. My next step in my photography was shooting my first couple for an engagement session. This was life changing! This was what I wanted to shoot going forward! This was what I wanted my career to be going forward, shooting couples. Whether it was engagements, weddings, or anniversary, I had just knew I needed to be shooting people that were in love. This made sense to a lot of my family members. I’m a bit of an oddball for a dude I guess, ever since I was a kid I have been watching romance movies and rom coms. I can just about quote every Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie word for word. For the past few years I’ve been glued to the Hallmark Channel, watching their love stories every night. Its a feeling I get watching two people in love that can’t be described, and it that type of feeling and energy I want to be around for the rest of my working years. Shooting weddings is the best thing I could ever have wished for. I get to tell the story through my images, of a couples most special day ever. How amazing is that! While it took me 34 years to find it, I’m so grateful that I finally find my life’s passion.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My images are bold and bright. I like my images to be shot as close to natural as possible, and then I increase the brightness and vibrancy of the pictures to make them pop. When shooting my couples, I don’t like to use posing. I like to give them prompts and things to do that will create natural reactions and emotions from them that make the images speak to whoever is looking at them. Too many times have I looked at images where couples were just given instructions to “stand like this, don’t move, bend your elbow like that…..” and they just look emotionless and stiff. My images have life and you can read the emotions in each shot. I also love a good epic shot where the couple is centered in a grand scene. Whether its a passionate kiss on the main intersection of a big city, or on the doorsteps of a huge grand church, pictures like this that build a scene are a pleasure to create and look at.

How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Success for me all comes down to happiness. My own personal happiness in doing the thing that makes me feel most alive, and also the happiness of my couples. It doesn’t come down to dollars. I’m a firm believer that as long as you’re doing something you’re passionate about, money will come and you will be able to make a nice living. That being said, when you truly have a passion for something, money is never the focus. Its all about shooting couples that are in love. Making them smile with the images they get, and me smile feeling happy and fulfilled with the work that I’m doing.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work can be seen on my website, Facebook or Instagram. If you’re in the Las Vegas area at the end of February, you can catch me at WPPI giving a presentation on behalf of Tamron and Range Finder magazine about creating and growing a successful photography business. I am also a destination wedding photographer, so if you like my work and want me to shoot your wedding, I’m there!

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