Meet Scott Johnsen

We recently connected with Scott Johnsen and have shared our conversation below.

Scott , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I was raised in a middle class blue collar working family. My father was always up and out the door no later than 5:30. When he came home there was always a project to be completed around the house or in the garage and so he’d eat dinner and continue to work on whatever home project that required his attention. He was always working for us but he knew when it was time to stop. That mentality of working hard for what you want definitely stemmed from watching him- paying attention to him even when I didn’t know I was.
That ethic transferred over to me as I grew up. I was always in a construction field of some sort and the days started early. When I went full time as a creator a few years ago it was still natural to wake up and start my day early. These days it starts at a computer or with a camera, but the mentality is still the same. I think the trick to a good work ethic is to find a decent balance that works for both you and your family so you don’t get burned out on either. I’ve become pretty good at stepping away from work to make sure I’m present for my wife and kids. After all, any success I may gain from life is ultimately so that I can be a good provider for them.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Scott Johnsen and I am a photographer and videographer based in Northwest Indiana. I focus on telling the story of the brands and clients I work with. I consider myself to be very blessed that I am able to work with people that I generally respect and love being around. I have developed more than just a business relationship with them and I think that is what I am most proud of. Not everyone has the luxury of actually liking the clients they work with but I can honestly say I’ve had multiple beers or coffees with everyone I’ve partnered over the last three years. My father always told me, “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life,” and while that may be true I’ve found that if you love who you work with you’ll never really call it work at all.

I have always had an interest in photography but I didn’t pursue it until later in life. When I was in my early to mid thirties. I thrifted an old Canon film camera and instantly started shooting. I was absolutely terrible at it but I fell in love with the process. Capturing little moments from my life became an everyday thing for me, even when the rolls of film came back black. Eventually I began to learn the craft and started shooting landscapes and eventually weddings. I love documenting my travels and road trips around the US.

Throughout this time I worked full time at a landscape supply center so my photography was usually limited to evenings and Sundays. Eventually, I started getting asked to photograph my clients landscape projects and this is when things really took off. In 2019 I became so busy with photography that I was turning alot of photography projects away because of my full time job. When covid hit I began to gain a different perspective on the fragility of life and decided to go all in. I left my job, the retirement plan, and my comfort zone behind and went full time. That first fall I photographed my first images for the Unilock product catalog in addition to gaining several full time clients managing their social media and producing photographs and content for their website portfolios. I still try and leave time for personal projects and am always looking for the “oh my God, I have to do this” freelance project that catches my eye. While a majority of my paid work is for Landscape Architecture I still manage to shoot a lot of portrait and nature landscape in my free time. I think, ultimately, my next adventure. will involve more travel and lifestyle content.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I think there’s alot that goes into running a business, especially when your name is on it. I didn’t come from money so keeping a good name has always been first and foremost. I want to be known as a good father and husband and an honest businessman. Secondly, it’s so important to do what you say you’re going to do. Whether that’s at home or in business, don’t make promises you can’t keep. People don’t forget and people talk. Lastly, I heard a saying that I’ll never forget and think of often- “be where your feet are.” It’s so easy, especially in this day and age, to look ahead and daydream or see what someone else is doing and to wish you were doing that, too, but that sort of thinking is what takes you away from the your purpose. It’s so easy with social media to doom scroll and see these people “living your dream life” but a lot of it isn’t real. It’s all for show. Focus on you and your people and what is going on around you.
My advice to anyone getting started in any journey is don’t look over your shoulder. Always be progressing, fail forward and learn from your mistakes. The beautiful thing about life is that with every new day is a new chance to get it right. I have failed so many times in my life but I’ve made sure to pull the lessons from those failures. I used to dwell on defeat and on moments where I let people down but it never took me anywhere positive or productive. It wasn’t until someone much older than me asked, “But what did you learn from it.” That stuck. Seriously, listen to your elders. They know things.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

It’s funny, despite my line of work that revolves around connecting with so many different types of people, I am by nature a massive introvert. I’m an island. I’m completely comfortable working by myself, but still, I love telling a story. I love meeting new people and talking, even when the camera doesn’t come out. I am responsible for conducting interviews and taking photographs for an industry magazine but when I arrive on site I seldom take my camera bag with me at the start. I’m more interested in making the subject comfortable and learning about them away from the camera and questions and 90% of the time I truly enjoy getting to really know them.

I have found that I love telling the story of artists and creators who’ve had similar life experiences to my own. Whether it be a painter, woodworker or someone who’s decided to make their own line of products, etc, I love learning about people and how they arrived at the point of pursuing their passion- the moment they realized the pursuit was more important than oxygen.
I think my dream collaboration would be to work with a small outdoor brand. I absolutely love camping and traveling, getting out in nature is my reset, and I think it would be fun to get creative with more outdoor projects from smaller companies and brands. Ultimately, I’ve always found that a story about a passion that pours out is what is most interesting to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sjohnsen.co
• Instagram: sjohnsen.co