“You might think print magazines are dying or digital magazines, whatever the medium that you’re using, you guys still need your stories told.”
— Scott Dworkin, professional photographer
In part 2 of our interview with Scott Dworkin, we talk about photography industry changes. Having spent years documenting military and civilian aviation, Scott reflects on stepping back from the constant hustle to focus on meaningful collaborations.
Scott Dworkin is an aerial photographer, photojournalist, and contractor based near Los Angeles, California. A lifelong enthusiast of aviation and photography, he honed his skills across diverse photographic fields before uniting his two passions into a professional career in 2010.Text below transcribed from a portion of an interview conducted by Betty of Cradoc fotoSoftware in August 2025 To view this and other interviews, please go to our Cradoc fotoSoftware YouTube Channel.
Evolving Beyond the Battle
At this point after doing this for so many years I can understand what the no’s mean so when it’s a no and if I understand why, I’ll let it go at this point because I’ve actually backed out of a lot of this stuff, I’m not doing it as much as I used to. I have a particular magazine publishing group up in Canada that I work with a bit. I do some contract work for Boeing but I’m not actively going out and trying to do this anymore. There’s a few projects that I’ll get involved with. I’m 52 years old and I’m not trying to create any sort of aura of myself, I don’t want to fight this battle anymore. When people ask me when my book came out, like, what’s your next book? I’m like, I have no desire, no matter what, I had some high level support from the Naval aviation community. And that is a huge reason, probably the only reason my book ever got done. The more bureaucratic side of things was painful and was painful for like a year, and then even after my book was done it was painful again. I tell people flat out, here’s where I’m at: I love the navy and I love naval aviation and I’ve been asked by three or four people to do this, this and this, and I’ll say I would be willing to if all of the approvals, you guys do all that, you do all the legwork. I will step in. I will have every meeting you want me to be at, every email, but I do not want to ask for permission. I work my ass off to do what I did. And there should be some level of like, we know he’s a known commodity; let’s do this.
Occasionally I get asked, do you want to go work with this air force unit? I’m like, no, because I know, especially now with social media and especially with some of the changes of influencers and stuff, it’s changed dramatically. So I just don’t want to fight the battle as much as I used to.
Photography Industry Changes and Storytelling
It’s different, but the same. They [air force] still say no a lot, but it’s for different reasons. Now they’re chasing likes and views as opposed to substance, and I don’t understand that. I think there’s a time and place for both. And there’s some great people doing aviation-centric YouTube or podcasts. I get messages all the time, like, how is that person getting access? I’m like, they’re doing good work. and they’re telling the story that needs to be told, whether you like it or not. This isn’t personal. It’s like, what are they doing? What’s the end goal? And when I’ve discussed it with, say, military people, I’m like, you need your story told. A photo is great; nobody hates a good photo, but that photo on Instagram lasts all of what, 10 seconds. You might think print magazines are dying or digital magazines, whatever the medium that you’re using, you guys still need your stories told. I don’t care if it’s a law enforcement agency or military or whatever, but they seem to kind of gravitate one way and think that’s it. And that’s where I’ve seen the change. Like everybody else doesn’t matter. We’re going this way now. And I’m like, in two years, you’re going to be like, oh, we need this now.
I’ve been working on this one project with the air force and I won’t name names, but if they’re listening, they’re going to know what it is. This is a unit I worked with early in my career when nobody else would work with them. And because I’m slowing down with this stuff, the guy that was running the unit called me and he’s like, you should work with us again. And I said, yeah, you know, what would be neat about it is it would be sort of circular, like you were one of the first military units that I flew with. And as I’m winding this career down, I’m not done. I’m just saying I’m not pursuing it as actively, it would be cool to circle back and talk about that two years. Two years to fly in an aircraft that I’ve flown in dozens of times in my career. It’s not about that. I don’t care whether I fly in the aircraft or not, but it’s a more effective way to tell the story. It’s because of my background, I could go stand on a runway and take photos of these airplanes, and that’s great. But because of my background, because of what I can do, you need the air photos. You need that to elevate the narrative. And it’s been two years of people sitting behind desks somewhere saying no and and we don’t know why, even the people out at the unit are like we don’t know why and I’m like whatever then don’t do it; you know exactly if you want me to sign something I’ll sign it, if you need me to send an email explaining myself again I’ll send it but if they just keep saying no because we don’t do this or blah blah blah, I’m like don’t you know , I keep telling them don’t fight City Hall, I don’t want your superiors getting mad at you because you keep pushing something that really at the end of the day isn’t that important. I’m also like, it’s important to tell your story, but it’s not your mission, right? I don’t know, whenever Instagram and everything blew up, it changed a lot of things for sure.
Changes in the Photography Industry
Like every creative field, photography is evolving , and not without disruption. This blog explores how AI is reshaping the industry, from headshots to stock imagery. For more reading, check out photographer Julie Bidwell’s thoughts on the industry’s changes.
About Scott Dworkin
Scott Dworkin is an accomplished aerial photographer and photojournalist based near Los Angeles, California. Blending his lifelong passions for aviation and photography, he has spent over a decade capturing the world of flight from unique perspectives. His work spans every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and has appeared in leading international aviation publications. Scott has flown in high-performance military aircraft around the world, documenting missions from training operations to combat evacuations. He is also a qualified aircrew member with specialized training through the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
Website:https://www.mach91aerialphotography.com/about
Copyright: All images belong to Scott Dworkin used by Cradoc fotoSoftware with permission of the copyright holder. Use of images or content by any person or entity other than Cradoc fotoSoftware for any purposes is expressly prohibited.
See other great interview transcripts:
- Todd Bigelow
- Jonathan Kingston
- Julie Bidwell
- Steve Whittaker
- Scott Dworkin
