I had the pleasure of interviewing: Scooter Cooper Athlete, Filmmaker and Photographer from Salt Lake City, Utah. He’s a 22 y/o self taught freelance filmmaker out of Salt Lake City, Utah. His work focuses mainly on documenting Action Sports, creating Short Films, Music Videos, Commercials, Adventure and Lifestyle Photography. His enthusiasm to document moments has brought him all over the world working with companies such as Nitro Circus, Samsung, GoPro, Greyhound Buses and many more. He is very passionate in what he does and inspires to better his art everyday!
Accomplishments:
Film:
“Action Figures 2” – The Movie
Nitro Circus
Evel Live (Las Vegas)
Greyhound Busses
2017 Turbo Conevo
Specialized Bicycles
Gear 360’ Camera
Samsung Mobile
2017 HaiBike 7.0,10.0
Hyatt E-Bicycles
2018 Nitro World Games
Nitro Circus
2018 X-Games Minneapolis
X-Games Athletes
Photography:
Action Sports
High Country E-Bicycles
Lifestyle
Life Straw
2018 Fashion Week
Burt’s Bees
2018 Merchandise
Nitro Circus
2018 X-Games Minneapolis
Pro-Tech Helmets & Pads
2018 Fashion Line
Bronxton
2018 Fashion
Grassroots California
2018 Featured by Snappr: the highest-rated photographers in Salt Lake City!
Action Sports:
– Team Utah Snowboarding Rookie of the Year
– 1 Bronze Medal in Snowboarding at JFT World Championships
Sponsors:
CBDMA – powered by nature ~ enhanced by science
Launch Snowboards
Giro Helmets and Goggles
Awards/Achievements:
– Member of “Team USA” World Championship of Performing Arts
– 2 Gold/1 Silver Medal in Acting – World Championship of Performing Arts, Los Angeles CA
– 3 Gold/2 Silver Medals in Modeling – World Championship of Performing Arts, Los Angeles CA
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path? Hey, thank you for having me. Ever since I was a young boy I have always been into action sports, I competed and filmed snowboarding from the ages of 12-17 which eventually led me to my freelancing career of film / photography and action sports.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your company?In any freelance profession you are bound to run into some interesting stories. When I was on set in Moab, Utah we set up a rope swing through a natural arch with over 300ft of exposure! We sessioned it all day then cooked up an amazing campfire dinner. When the sun went down and the moon came out it was pitch black outside. We decided it would be a good idea to hit the rope swing in the middle of the night. A few hours passed and we started hiking, it was a little hard to see but we had a few headlamps which helped a lot. Flying through the air with over 300ft of exposure seeing nothing but the stars was absolutely the most interesting and amazing moment ever! I would recommend this to anyone debating trying a rope swing and if giving the opportunity to session at night you HAVE to try it!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that? Mistakes are always going to happen but I remember a pretty funny moment that I will never forget. I just purchased my new photography camera (Canon 1DX Mark II) I was on set at a headshot photoshoot in my hometown Salt Lake City, Utah. I got my camera all set up and the model ready but for the life of me I could not figure out why my pictures were coming out all black… I checked my settings on my camera and everything looked normal. Then the model takes a step forward and pulled the lens cap off my camera and then it hit me! I was so embarrassed… Moral of the story is that I will always take the lens cap off before stepping on set.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?I believe what makes my company stand out is I am not just a filmmaker but a athlete as well. So when doing one or the other I know where and how the other guy will shoot or ride. An example of this would be when filming Brandon Schmidt’s Snowboarding part for Nitro Circus Action Figures 2 we were snowboarding together up at Mt. Hood Oregon and instead of myself having to hike to each feature and film we were able to just snowboard together all day lap after lap, keeping the energy alive while stacking content.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? I think the key to not burning out in any industry is to always make sure you are having fun, as soon as you’re not having fun it will show in your work!
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Giving back to the world is huge for me and has always played a big role in my life. I am actually in the middle of getting a non profit foundation started called “Tell Your Story Foundation” Where we travel around the world helping teach underprivileged kids photography and business skills allowing for them to learn basic entrepreneurship giving them confidence going into life. If you would like to get involved or learn more about this foundation head over to www.scootercooper.com/tellyourstory
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life? “Be Here Now” is my favorite Quote, I actually have it tattooed on my neck. I picked this quote because you never know how much time we have in this life so you have to be present everyday.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. I would say we need to continue or advance our environmental movement. We only have one earth and need to take care of it. Global Warming is real and is already affecting our daily life.
How can our readers follow you on social media?I post weekly on Youtube www.youtube.com/scootercooper and daily on Instagram @ScooterCooper
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!