Vermilion Arts Guild's Scott Dommin: Focusing on Our Town
If you live in Vermilion you are probably familiar with Scott Dommin's work. Facebook serves as his online portfolio, filled with photographs of the town at its finest: beautiful sunsets, calm beach scenes, dramatic water moments, nature and more. Each post earns hundreds of likes and even more compliments.
Scott's interest in photography was sparked during his senior year at Vermilion High School at a time when most of the yearbook staff quit. Someone handed him a camera and said “Go take pictures of students and come back when you can’t click it anymore!”
"These were the days before you could review the photos," said Scott. "A surprising number of them turned out well and were printed in the yearbook." Scott went on to earn a degree in photography from Ohio State University then entered the Air Force as a navigator, where he photographed hurricanes, typhoons, and other tropical storms--from inside eye of the storm.
After traveling around the world, a few years in the Air Force and more than 20 years as an air traffic controller, Scott retired to his hometown. To Scott, retirement allows him to drop everything and take pictures anywhere he likes. He's traveled to California, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, England, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, France and others, trying to capture the essence of everywhere he lands. His favorite places to photograph include Utah, California, Paris and, of course, Vermilion.
Scott feels a particular attachment to Vermilion scenes and loves to capture the beauty of the city. His photography allows him to portray the “uniqueness and ‘coolness’ that is this place.”
Among his favorite subjects are Canadian soldiers, flies, stars, comets, rockets taking off in Florida, the space station, eclipse and "anything that's hard to photograph." He channels Ansel Adams and Walker Evans in some of his work, gravitating towards a black and white format. He jokes about the sheer amount of equipment he owns: seven cameras and twenty lenses, each one, he tries to convince himself, has a different purpose.
Outside of the Vermilion Arts Guild, Scott enjoys biking, walking, astronomy, travel and “thinking about photography.” The Vermilion Arts Guild provides community for him and interaction with other artists. "Arts Guild members inspire each other," he said. "We encourage each other to find additional outlets to showcase their work and, of course, to keep creating."
Check out Scott’s website for hurricane and typhoon photos, as well as Vermilion scenes, trips out west, bugs, flora and more.
Author: Dana Smith, Main Street Vermilion Intern