Scott Thiel Photography

I guess that I should likely introduce myself and my business.

I began shooting photos back in 1994.  I estimate '94 because I can't remember if I bought my first camera in '93 or '94.  It wasn't later than that.  I know that for sure.

My first camera, I believe, was a really early version of the Canon Rebel.  It might have even been an EOS Elan.  That was a long time ago and I really didn't pay much attention to my gear back then.  The only thing that I knew at the time was that I really enjoyed taking pictures.  That camera lasted me a couple of years until I grew bored with its lack of features.


I didn't shop around much to replace it.  I remember being in one of the camera shops in London, Ontario looking at their used cameras and seeing one that looked shiny with lots of buttons and gears.  That camera turned out to be a Canon A-1.  It was a machine of a camera.  I learned most of what I know today on that camera.  I loved that thing.  I actually kind of miss it.  The year that I bought that camera, I think, was 1997.  I know this because I have a photo of me standing in front of the Vimy memorial near Arras, France holding that camera.  That was 18 April, 1998, 81 years after Canada defeated the Germans in one of the most critical battles of WWI.

Note: I'm a bit of a history nerd.

I shot my very first wedding that summer.  It was one of my buddies that I went through Basic Training and the RCR Battleschool with; Tim Atterton.  Sorry Tim, I just dropped your name.  I have never seen those photos.  The wedding and reception were both held in the Kyrenia Club, Junior Ranks Mess in Petawawa, Ontario.  Right after the wedding I handed them the rolls of film and they had everything developed.  I wonder what they're doing today?   I bet I haven't seen them in over 10 years.

Now, I didn't do much in the decade that followed.  I really don't have many photos that I've kept.  The switch from film to digital was also happening at this time.

My current wife, Tina, is the one who is responsible for introducing me to digital photography.  When we met she was into this new digital technology and already had an advanced Point and Shoot camera that she was using to take very nice photos.  She wanted to upgrade however, and we sold off my Canon A-1 and lenses to help pay for her first DSLR, an Olympus A420(?).

That camera didn't last long.  Digital photography has two major players; Canon and Nikon.  We compared a lot of the features and finally decided on Nikon.  She traded in her Olympus for the brand new Nikon D90 in 2007.  That camera was amazing.  It did everything that she wanted it to do.  She took some courses and really got into the business of taking pictures.  Then we decided to have children and her focus (so to speak) shifted (so to speak) on caring for our two girls.

This is where I come in.  In 2008 I decided to get into DSLR as well.  I didn't opt into the D90 like Tina did.  I went for the much less powerful and rather disappointing Nikon D60.  I shot with that camera for six months before I outgrew it.  I traded it in for the D90.  This is the camera that I still use today.

Flash forward to 2011.  Early on in the year I decided that if I'm going to be spending all of this money on camera equipment I should probably do something with it.  A year prior I had opened an account at Wix.com and built a really basic portfolio.  On 27 May 2011 I bought photothiel.ca, started my online campaign and @photothiel - Scott Thiel Photography was born.

This is just the beginning for me, I know that.  I have a lot of learning to do still, but I have the determination to make this business work in a world full of digital photography businesses.

Stand by and watch as we grow larger together.