Who are you and what do you do?
1.My name is Scott Johnson. I served in the Army for 23 years and retired after being injured in Iraq. I now help my wife with her photography business as much as I am able to and volunteer my photographic services to Soldiers Best Friend when they have a group graduating their program. I occasionally dabble in portrait and product photography as well.
2. How did you get your start?
Before I received my head injury, I really didn’t have much interest in the arts but during my recovery and rehabilitation of learning how to walk straight and drive again, I started learning photography from my wife.
3. What inspires you?
For the Soldiers Best Friend project work I do, I was inspired by a photograph hanging in my living room of my grandfather taken before he deployed to the Pacific theater during WWII. He is in his Army dress uniform and is kneeling down next to his dog. My entire family has cherished this image for as long as I can remember and now I am its custodian. Both my wife and I are avid dog lovers and we are both Veterans and know what it is like to endure hardships. I thought to myself and said, “everyone should have a decent photograph that can last for generations that someday their family would enjoy”. Our lives are short and especially for our four legged companions, but photographs will last a long time and can be reflected upon to help remember and honor the ones no longer with us. Once we relocated to the Phoenix area, I reached out to Soldiers Best Friend and asked them if I could do this for their graduates and I have been documenting teams ever since. I have now photographed over 70 teams for them and am still counting!
4. What do you like about AZ?
Having lived in many different states and countries, I find Arizona to have beauty in its landscape and who misses humidity???!!!
5. Where can we see you(r) work?
Right now you can see a portion of my work at the Bokeh Gallery inside the Monorchid in downtown Phoenix. You can also visit www.fadingskypix.com to see some more work of products I have shot and a few other things. Most of the work there is my wife’s however.
6. What would you like to accomplish before you die?
I have lived a pretty good life and can only hope to be lottery rich one day! In reality, I only want to be a good husband and father. I like sharing my knowledge, wisdom and skills to those that want it and I would like to show more folks how great of a job the Soldiers Best Friend team does with helping Veterans regain their life back.
7. What is your mantra?
Hmmm, I don’t have a specific regiment that I follow. I find it soothing to watch television and spend time with the Veterans I photograph. It is also quite therapeutic for me to get some trigger time at the gun range!
