This season the RA Photo Club has 50 new members, out of a membership of 275. The RAPC Blog interviews one of them, Scott Beeston, who happens to be the winner of the 2013 Best Humour Photo, as voted by the attendees of the Christmas Party.
BLOG: What makes you join the RA Photo Club, Scott?
SCOTT: I was posted to Ottawa last spring, that’s why I’m new to the club…
BLOG: Posted? Are you in the Armed Forces?
SCOTT: Yes, I am an Aerospace Engineering Officer with the Airforce. In the last couple years I have been moving around a lot as I was transferring from being a Flight Engineer to an Aerospace Engineer. My family was in Greenwood NS while I was in Borden, Ontario. I was finally posted to Ottawa in April and reunited with my family in July.
BLOG: May I ask what rank you hold, if that’s not too nosy?
SCOTT: With occupation move I also became an officer, so I went from a Warrant Officer to a commissioned officer…I am now a Lieutenant.
BLOG: This is fascinating! But let’s get back to photography for a moment. Judging from your Best Humour winner, you maybe a newbie to the club but clearly not one to photography. When did you get into photography?
SCOTT: I have been into photography since high school, but I took a long break from it until about six years ago when I reequipped myself.
BLOG: What kind of gear do you have?
SCOTT: I invested some money into my passion recently and I am shooting a Nikon D600 with a 24-70mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8, 105mm f2.8 and the SB-910. So I’m very happy now with the equipment.
BLOG: As well you should! Who wouldn’t be with a Full Frame? And what a great line-up of lenses. No concern of oil smears on the D600’s sensor?
SCOTT: The D600 was a Kijiji buy. I was concerned and did a lot of reading on the subject, but in the end I decided to take the chance knowing that you sometimes need to take the comments you see on forum sites with a pound of salt.
BLOG: What do you like to shoot?
SCOTT: Well, everything although my favourite subjects are my kids. With the extra SB-600s that I have, I play with the lighting in taking their pictures. I enjoy going outside to shoot as well when I can find the time…which I need to do more often.
BLOG: Is that flash photography with the Speedlights set to manual? Your Best Humour photo was certainly nicely illuminated.
SCOTT: Thanks! I have just recently acquired the additional SB-600s. Before I was using the good old Vivitar 285s. I still have the one I bought back in ’88. So I am comfortable shooting in manual but I am starting to play more with the Nikon Creative Lighting System. It allows shooting TTL with off-camera flashes.
BLOG: This is the question I started to ask at the beginning: why the RAPC, Scott?
SCOTT: I like the idea of the large personnel base that you have. From what I could get online before I joined, it just seemed to have a lot going on. And so far I’ve been impressed with the speakers that you have. I finally was able to join one of the many classes put on and enjoyed the tabletop photography course. No regrets joining the club!
BLOG: One last question. Is the Best Humour winner What’s Your Problem? a self-portrait? And are those kids in the picture related to you?
SCOTT: Yes, that would be my rear end you see and the boys are mine as well. We had a lot of fun doing that shot. It took a while for me to find a place to shoot it. I had the photo in my mind but the bathroom I found didn’t quite fit what I wanted but I went ahead anyway. I will probably end up reshooting it when I find a better venue. It is an interesting talk to have with owners/managers of the facilities to use their bathroom so you can take pictures of your kids using the bathroom. “No, I am not nuts…I’m serious!”
BLOG: Thanks for doing the interview, Scott, and welcome to the club. When you decide to throw your officer hat in the ring, I’m sure you’ll do well in regular club competitions.
SCOTT: I am welcoming the idea of shooting for the competitions to take me out of my comfort area and to challenge myself and learn new things. Thank you for welcoming me into the club. I look forward to meeting everyone and talking about my favourite subject!
Click here for more of Scott’s photos.
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Beautiful images. The image "A Good Day For a Search" is just great, I love the punchy processing, but there is a whole story there.
Gerald...thank you for the kind words.