We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scott Dworkin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scott below.

Scott, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

In the professional photography field the biggest trend I have seen for better or worse, is the combination of the fact that everyone has a pretty decent quality camera in their pockets at all times via their phone, coupled with social media which allows everyone the ability to post an abundance of photos, good, bad, or otherwise. This has devalued the need for a professional photographer to some degree and makes you have to work that much harder to justify why you do what you do, and why it is different and important!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have been a photographer based in the Northern Los Angeles area of Thousand Oaks, California since 2008 with a primary focus on aviation, aerial photography and flight test. In addition to my photography, I also am a writer providing the majority of the written features to accompany my photography. Since I began this type of work, which originally started out as a part time endeavor I was been published in numerous international aviation outlets, both in print and on the web throughout the world, and flew with every branch of the US military, as well as many civilian aviation outfits and law enforcement aviation units. I even traveled to Afghanistan to embed with the United States Air Force to document their Aeromedical Evacuation mission, as well as traveling all around the United States to work with various military and civilian units.

In late 2012 my independent work led to me being hired full time by the United States Air Force-Air Force Flight Test Center 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. While there I provided aerial multimedia, both air-to-air and air-to-ground coverage, including still photography, high definition videography, high-speed video, and post production. I routinely flew in various US Air Force aircraft to provide documentation of ordnance and weapons testing, drop tests, aircraft flight performance, and other operational missions as required and delivered final products to the USAF Flight Test Center, the Department of Defense, and various other contract customers.

I left the contract position at Edwards in early 2014 to jump back into the freelance world and start my own company, Mach 91 Aerial Photography, doing the same type of photography work I was was doing prior to working for the Air Force but now full time, and back in the public eye which the work at Edwards did not allow for as well as to continue to expand on my writing. Along with publishing articles for various aviation magazines on almost a monthly basis since starting my company, another important aspect of my business has been to work directly with the manufacturers, contractors and subcontractors that provide the equipment to the different aviation assets around the world to get them the best possible photographic representation of their products available and in turn also help promote the service branches that use them. I have worked on various programs and projects to achieve these goals.

I was eventually recruited by, a major defense contractor and worked as contracted flight test photographer/videographer for the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Test Wing Pacific, at both Point Mugu, and China Lake in California and other locations as required by the Navy. In addition, he held the designation of United States Navy Project Specialist, and with that received Navy Aviation Physiology Training and Aviation Water Survival Training Program qualifications.

I recently was hired on a contract to support the Boeing Flight Test Multimedia Team of photographers and videographers as required on numerous ongoing aircraft development programs throughout the company.

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The creation of my company Mach 91 Aerial Photography and the work I have done and continue to do has been the culmination of my lifelong dream and passion to deliver the finest quality, striking and dramatic aerial photography possible and tell the story of the men and women who serve.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On my recently released book, Becoming the Rhino, I worked extensively with the Navy on the project, but initially there were certain factions within the Navy that didn’t necessarily buy into the idea of the book, nor the steps it would take to complete it. I was told no dozens of times and yet I remained persistent yet professional, and kept trying to explain why I felt my project was important to the Navy and why I should be allowed to do the work. I also had tremendous support from others within the Naval Aviation community that also, despite the fact that I was told no, believed in me and kept helping try to turn the tide. Between my perseverance, my professionalism, and that support, the nos eventually turned into a yes, and years later my book has now been published and is getting incredible response from those who have seen pre-release copies, most of which are from the Naval Aviation community, which means the world to me.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

While my audience isn’t huge, it is authentic, I think becasue I am authentic with my followers. I have tried to post things and respond to everyone who asked me a question , for advice, or anything else. While I appreciate all of my followers on all of my platforms and I know what I do is somewhat rare, and is impressive to some people flying in fighter jets and other aircraft taking photos, I also do not take myself too seriously on social media so I will be the first person to make a funny comment about one of my posts and I think people appreciate that and see me as just being who I am. By doing that I feel as if I slowly grew my audience on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, the platforms I am most active on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mach91aerialphotograhy.com
• Instagram: @mach91photo
• Facebook: Mach 91 Aerial Photograhy (business page)
• Linkedin: Scott Dworkin
• Twitter: @mach91photo
• Youtube: Mach91Photo