Romance and Escapism with Scott West

Kyu Watanabe: I know that you ultimately moved out to California, but I'd love to hear a bit more about what initially drew you there and how your creative background took shape.

Scott West: Yeah! Growing up in Ohio, I always dreamed of California. It was the era of Laguna Beach, The O.C., and peak celebrity pop culture, and I remember being drawn to a youthful fantasy of palm trees and freedom, you know?

I took the first step by moving to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts, where I studied Advertising. I knew I wanted to go to art school, but I wasn't confident enough to think of myself as an artist, so I chose something that felt sensible and safe.

Living in New York helped me grow tremendously, but even then I felt pulled elsewhere. California was always at the back of my mind. During my second year, I had an amazing professor named Eileen Hedy Schultz. She would always talk about this incredible school on the West Coast called ArtCenter College of Design. It was the first time I'd ever heard of it. She helped me research the school, apply, and secure creative scholarships that made the move possible.

ArtCenter was a great school, but the school itself just wasn't for me. I spent two years at S.V.A. and another two at ArtCenter before deciding to leave. The tuition was incredibly expensive, and I wasn't convinced that staying was the right path for me.

Scott West - GOLDEN

Right after that, I landed a job at Commune Design, the best interior design studio in Los Angeles. I remember interviewing with lead partner Roman Alonso, and when I told him I had dropped out, he basically said, "Hell yeah, you belong here." He understood the artist mentality for sure.

Working there was so much fun! This was a while ago, but we were working on multiple Ace Hotels which were new at the time, along with architectural and celebrity homes. I honestly feel like I learned just as much on that job as I did in school. The taste level, the references, the attention to detail—it was unbelievable. It wasn't just about concepting ideas; it was about bringing them to life. I'll always be grateful to the partners at Commune for welcoming me into their world.

Since then, I’ve floated back and forth a few times between New York and Los Angeles, trying different jobs that utilize different skill sets while figuring out for myself what sticks. I've found that in New York the work is good, but in Los Angeles life feels good. 

When you don't come from money, there's always a balance between staying creative and staying afloat. I try my best to follow my gut and have faith that things will work out. I'm really grateful for the company I keep.

So, that’s kind of where I’m at now—at this perfect overlap where graphic design is my structural background and photography is my true passion. I do a lot of art direction work to pay the bills and get by, because my personal work has always been a labor of love more than a business.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: Let’s talk about your new book GOLDEN. Recently, I received the book, and I was deeply impressed. When did you first decide to turn this body of work into a dedicated book project?

SW: Making books is what drives me creatively. It's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm hoping GOLDEN is just the first of many.

I'm entirely self-taught as a photographer. Early on, I had a very distinct idea that I wanted to make personal work that existed independently of the commercial work I do for clients. I wanted to make work in the lineage of the books you carry in your store—the photographers who inspired me, like Bruce Weber, Herbert List, and George Platt Lynes.

Growing up in Ohio in a religious environment, being gay was not at all accepted–not at home, not at school, and not in church. That's something I've always carried with me. Part of the needle I'm trying to thread is both personal and social acceptance.

I want to show the beauty of the male gaze directed toward another man. It's charged, but not sexually explicit. I'm trying to reveal a tenderness that can exist between two men, one that I was never exposed to growing up. In some ways, making these photographs is a form of healing for me. And if the work can help a younger queer person feel seen, understood, or less alone, then that's incredibly meaningful.

Scott West - GOLDEN

I'm not interested in selling a physical product with my photography. I'm trying to embrace a vibe of escapism and romance. I’m still very much figuring it all out, but a book was always the goal. 

Moving forward, I'd love future projects to be more concise, less thick, and more focused. But for me, GOLDEN represents those first years of learning how to photograph. 

I named it GOLDEN as a layered tribute. Part of it is for my dogs—I've always had golden retrievers. California is the Golden State. I almost exclusively shoot at golden hour. And I realized that one day I’ll probably look back on these early, naive years of dreaming and creating as my own golden years. 

I've been building this body of work over a long period of time, and it's a weird, complicated feeling now that it's finished. You spend years thinking about something, making it, and living with it. Then one day it's done, and you're just left with this unexpected void.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: Do you remember exactly which year you decided to commit to this project, and did you start shooting with a book format already in mind?

SW: I bought my first camera in 2017 and had absolutely no idea how to use it. The photographs that actually made it into GOLDEN were shot between 2018 and 2025. 

I definitely had an artistic pursuit in mind from the beginning, but I also had so much to learn. Even then, I was thinking in terms of a body of work rather than individual photographs. I knew I wanted the book to be a celebration of California landscapes and the male form.

There are a couple of shots from New York in there that don't strictly fit the California concept, but I just loved those boys too much to leave them out.

The book was built brick by brick in small two-to three-hour personal shoots. Sharing photographs on Instagram helped me build trust and relationships with models and agents that otherwise would have been out of my reach. I wish I could have worked on all of this silently behind the scenes and then revealed it all at once, but this was all necessary for my process and growth.

KW: What was the main factor that drove you to self-publish GOLDEN on your own?

SW: Total self-control. Because of my background, I had the graphic design skills to handle it myself. I love typography, layout, and sequencing, and all of the details that go into making a book.

I didn't exactly have publishers knocking on my door asking to do this specific book anyway, so I realized I could just manage it independently, control every detail, and learn a ton along the way. 

I used my design background to my absolute advantage. For me, making the book wasn't separate from the photography–it was part of the creative process.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: GOLDEN feels inseparable from natural light and the landscape. How do you choose your locations, and how much do you plan around the elements?

SW: I completely nerd out on locations! It’s funny because when you look at the final photos, you hardly see much of the physical landscape–I focus right in on my models, but the energy of being in a beautiful setting matters immensely. Location is energy.

I always look for spots that have zero foot traffic—no hikers, no tourists. This adds to the sense of escapism for me, my work, and the model in front of my camera. I scout them all ahead of time by myself with my dog.

I'll map out where the light will hit, find a specific tree or rock, and plan the timing around the sun. Of course, natural conditions are completely out of my control. There are days we roll up to a freshly scouted spot and it is completely cloudy and overcast, so you just have to adapt and trust the magic of the day. 

But having that private, intimate space where the models feel entirely safe is crucial. I'm hoping to push this even further for future projects.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: That comfort shows. The people you photograph feel incredibly natural in front of your lens. Tell us about your casting process and the relationships you build with them.

SW: Connection is everything. I’m so grateful to the guys who agree to collaborate with me and help bring these ideas to life.

I usually find them through Instagram. I keep a saved folder of faces where I see something special. Even if their agency portfolios look overly commercial or stiff, I can sometimes see a raw, untapped quality in them that draws me in. My friends are constantly sending me model profiles saying, "You should shoot him!" but it's such a specific and personal gut filter that I try to always lean into.

Every single boy in this book is someone I feel a genuine sense of love and connection for. I build relationships with them slowly, and many of them don't live in California. I'll wait until they travel to Los Angeles for a commercial client, and they'll hit me up like, "Hey, I'm shooting for Ralph Lauren on Tuesday, let's go out to the hills on Wednesday." 

I shoot mainly on my medium-format Pentax 67. There are no screens to look at – just blind faith and trust, which helps the intimacy tremendously. It's just two people out in nature, hanging out and collaborating, trying to make something great that lasts and captures a moment in time.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: The book is dedicated to River. Would you be willing to share the story behind that?

SW: River was my last golden retriever, and he was my absolute world. I am a huge animal lover; my dogs go everywhere with me. River was by my side for the entire creation of this book and his unexpected passing came along with the final stages of this book.

KW: While you were making the book, were there specific photography books that influenced you whether in form or spirit?

SW: Oh, absolutely! Form-wise, my biggest inspirations are old Bruce Weber books from the 1980's and 1990's, like BEAR POND or his self-titled monograph. I am deeply drawn to the casual, physical quality of his early books. They feel like elevated newsprint—very unpretentious and relaxed.

Spiritually, there is nobody better than Herbert List. His book JUNGE MÄNNER, published by Twin Palms, is absolute perfection to me. The way he frames the male form against the stark beauty of the sea and sand is exactly the kind of timelessness I strive for.

Twin Palms really had a good thing going. They created so many of the most beautiful books I cherish today.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: One of the first things that struck me when I held GOLDEN was its scale and physical weight. What was your editing and sequencing process like to arrive at the final design?

SW: Looking back now, I probably could have edited the book down a lot more, and part of me wishes I did. But hindsight is 20/20. I'm very much still growing and evolving, trying to become better. I do feel strongly that this book is the best book I could have made at this stage in my career. I wanted this massive book to represent a true sense of closure for a body of work that stretched over eight years.

As for the sequencing, I knew I wanted the portrait of Rody Bond in Topanga Canyon to open the book. There is something about that specific shot that sets the exact tone for the kind of work I want to make. I don't know that I can explain it, it's a feeling.

The rest of the book is about pacing and flow. I wanted to dip in and out of California landscapes while moving between different subjects. It’s not a literal, sequential narrative; it's a feeling I'm trying to capture.

KW: Every image in GOLDEN is black and white. What does black and white allow you to express that color wouldn’t?

SW: I'm just a black and white boy! It's what I love, both in my work and in the world.

I've pretty much mastered exactly how I want my black and white photographs to look. Whereas with color, I'm still searching for a palette that feels authentically my own.

By nature, black and white immediately strips away a layer of reality and makes an image feel incredibly dreamy. There is a deep-seated desire for escapism in my work, and black and white transports you to another world entirely.

I mostly use Ilford HP5, so there's no turning back or changing your mind. Uncoated paper also absorbs ink in a way that handles black and white beautifully, whereas I really dislike how color looks on matte sheets.

I want to experiment with color in the future, but for this book, it needed to be consistent.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: GOLDEN was printed in Italy. Can you tell us about the production process and how you selected the printer for the project?

SW: Printing is so hard! The way I went about finding Faenza Printing in Italy is through designer and publisher Jeff Khonsary, who manages an incredible design resource library here in Los Angeles. He had previously been affiliated with another high-quality printer based in Belgium that recently went out of business, so Faenza was a new partner for him. I followed his lead.

There were so many hurdles – from design and cost to stock availability and international conflicts. I learned so much, but it was a bruising uphill battle to make this happen on my own. Even a week before press, with flights and hotel booked, I was notified that the paper we were going to print on was not going to make it on time, so I had to pivot to a thicker stock with a smoother surface. I had to stay flexible and have faith.

It was my first time being on press for a project of this scale. The book is 272 pages, which required two full 12-hour days of printing. The master printers would be changing shifts, and I would still be there with my incredible partner Monica Rossi from Faenza Printing. 

It was a massive learning curve because you're printing on parent sheets with multiple images at once. If you want to lift the ink density to bring out details in one image, it automatically affects the others on that sheet. You have to make these immediate, high-pressure decisions, deciding which photo can afford to be a little darker or a little lighter.

Before press, we did three rounds of wet tests to get the tonal range as close as possible, but you can never fully predict how everything will come together on the final press sheets. There are definitely a few images in this book where I look at them and think, "Oof." But overall, I wanted that flatter, softer look rather than high contrast. It was a beautiful experience, but it completely drained my personal savings.

Scott West - GOLDEN

KW: Looking back on the entire publishing journey—from the first photographs to holding the finished book in your hands—what was the most challenging part of bringing GOLDEN to life?

SW: The most challenging part isn't even tied to the logistics of self-publishing; it's the emotional void you hit immediately after it's completed. Nobody really talks about that, and I wasn't prepared for it. 

You spend all these years dreaming of making a book, pouring your energy into it, and then suddenly you're holding the physical object and everything stops. You're left with this unexpected, hollow feeling of, 'Okay, now what?'

You start grappling with human nature, dealing with an unhealthy craving for validation from others, wondering if anyone actually cares or if you even want to keep doing it.

The answer is absolutely yes. I love photography and bookmaking, and I'll keep doing it as long as I'm able. But mentally grappling with that creative vacuum and learning how to move beyond it was definitely the hardest part of the entire journey.

KW: To close our conversation, I always love to ask: what is your personal favorite art and photography book, and what makes it special to you?

SW: My favorite book of all time is without a doubt BROOKLYN BOYS by Danny Fitzgerald. Do you know it?

KW: No, I’ve actually never come across it. Tell me about it.

SW: Oh my god, it is so f***ing beautiful!

I originally discovered him when flipping through a new issue of the independent publication titled PRINT by Francesca Burns and Christopher Simmonds, which generally features photographers like Jamie Hawkesworth and Colin Dodgson. It hit me like a ton of bricks. When I first saw the images, I genuinely thought it was a contemporary photographer making the most beautiful work I'd ever seen. After consuming the full feature I realized it was all archival imagery from the 1950's and 1960's. 

Danny Fitzgerald would work under the pseudonym "Les Demi Dieux" because, obviously, distributing male nude photography was entirely illegal back then. He was just a dude living in his mom’s attic in Brooklyn, befriending guys at local gyms and photographing them. One of his main recurring subjects was his boyfriend, Richard Bennett, who was unbelievably gorgeous. Fitzgerald is so completely underrated! I bought his book back when it was still affordable, but the cheapest copies you can find on eBay now are easily $600. If you can ever find a copy for your library, definitely pick it up. It couldn't be better.

Scott West - GOLDEN (Self-published, 2026)