Conservation photographer, cancer survivor to share story at Steamboat Springs event (original) (raw)

Scott Wilson describes himself as a devoted husband, loving father, and award-winning conservation photographer who uses his images to draw attention to important issues and inspire change.

He is also a cancer survivor, who at 48 was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2016. Wilson beat the odds after being put on a program of chemotherapy and immunotherapy by his oncologist, Dr. Allen Cohn. One year after being diagnosed, he was declared NED (no evidence of disease).

“I am one of a growing cohort of stage 4 survivors,” said Wilson, who is coming to Steamboat Springs on Friday to speak. “When I was diagnosed in 2016 the survival rate, which means living for five years beyond diagnosis, was 10% for stage 4 colorectal cancer, and I believe that’s now 15% — I am one of that lucky small minority.”

Wilson will be the featured speaker at United Against Cancer, an event set for 3-5 p.m. Friday at the Strings Music Pavilion. During the event he will describe his journey with cancer and how it led him to cause-related photography supporting both animal welfare and improved cancer screening. United Against Cancer aims to bring connection, education and support for individuals, family members and caregivers impacted by cancer.

Wilson, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, started working for Molson Coors Brewing Co. in 1997. When they approached him in 2015 asking if he would consider moving to Colorado from Nottingham, England, he was thrilled.

The avid landscape photographer looked forward to what Colorado offered when he wasn’t at his regular job. He settled in Golden along with his wife Jaione, his son Andrew and daughter Alba.

“I wouldn’t even call photography a hobby — it was a hybrid career in many ways. I was runner-up in the Landscape Photographer of the Year contest in the U.K. four years in a row, so it was a very serious part of my life. When we moved here with Molson Coors, as a landscape photographer, you can imagine my eyes just popped at the prospect of moving to Colorado.”

His first year in Colorado was going as planned until he learned that he had colorectal cancer. It was a surprise to Wilson, who had taken precautions and was screened at 45. He lost his mother to colorectal cancer when she was 59, and in the U.S., those with a parent, sibling or child diagnosed with colorectal cancer are considered high risk and are advised to have a colonoscopy at an age 10 years younger than the family member who died.

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However, in the U.K., he wasn’t considered high-risk, and he preferred to use a Fecal Immunochemical Test or FIT test for screening, which simply tests the stool. Three years later, as his son entered high school and his daughter was headed to middle school, the Wilsons were facing an unexpected challenge.

“One of my ambitions was to see my kids graduate, and I’ve literally just done that,” Wilson said this week. “To be able to look back at 2016 with stage 4 cancer and imagine that you’re still here 10 years later is absolutely mind blowing, and I still feel that. The gratitude is immense … the statistics are sadly against survival.”

Cancer altered the course of Wilson’s life in many ways. He said after being placed on a program of chemotherapy that required his to avoid the sun completely, he had to make changes.

Avoiding the sun made it nearly impossible for Wilson to pursue he passion for landscape photography and closed a therapeutic outlet he needed. But instead of putting his camera gear in storage he chose a different path — to create stunning images of wildlife without leaving the driver’s seat of his vehicle. Those hours in the car led to a new path.

“I appreciated the abundance of state parks and wildlife opportunities on our doorstep in Colorado,” Wilson said. “I could travel through those areas and photograph from the protective shade of my car to stop me from burning.”

His favorite place became the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, just outside of Denver, where he could drive through and create images from his car.

“I switched my wide-angle landscape lens for a 400- to 600-millimeter wildlife lens … I would go to these places after treatment, settle with my own thoughts and start to prepare notes and things,” Wilson recalled.

Wilson’s ongoing passion for photography, along with a helping hand from several friends, led to a book titled “Through the Window: A Photographic Tale of Cancer Recovery.” He gave 100% of proceeds to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, helping the organization push for changes. Wilson also joined the push to advance legislation that reduced the screening age in Colorado from 50 to 45 for average-risk adults.

Wilson parted ways with Molson Coors in 2019, but he said the timing was good, allowing him to focus more on advocacy projects. He discovered places like Sand Wash Basin in Northwest Colorado, where he discovered the beauty of the wild horses and the need to protect them.

In 2022, Wilson’s black and white image of a stallion kicking up dust in Sand Wash Basin won two top awards in the 2022 SONY World Photography Awards contest. The image, titled “Anger Management,” won first place in the Natural World and Wildlife category and earned Wilson the Open Photographer of the Year prize.

He got involved with the American Wild Horse Conservation organization and more recently began PhotoAdvocacy, a Facebook page featuring his images that brings awareness to the plight of wild horses in Colorado and nationwide.

Recently, Wilson has shifted to a mission of inspiring others to use their talents, whether that’s photography or another skill, to advocate for their own causes. He has spoken at high schools in the Denver area, and for International Federation Internationale de I’Art Photographique about the power of photo advocacy. Recently he started working with students at the University of Denver as part of a new program focused on advocacy.

“I have a hybrid career as a conservation photographer, so I’m utilizing my photo skills to support those causes, but increasingly in advocacy education,” Wilson said. “It is a whole new avenue for me to actually take those skills and then help train other people (outside of photography) in the same skills and attributes, so they can advance their causes.”

Wilson said he has a lot of people to thank for helping him in his darkest hours and clearing the path he is currently following. He said Dr. Cohn, and cancer treatment centers in Colorado including the UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center, are an important part of caring for patients and successful outcomes.

“To have gone through that process and come out feeling great is absolutely fantastic, and the level of gratitude and feeling that you have to give back to that community is just overwhelming,” Wilson said. “Anything I can do to help Dr. Cohen, this community or the Cancer Center in Steamboat or in Denver, I’m going to do it.”

To register for the free event, go to Events.UCHealth.org/Events/United-Against-Cancer.

John F. Russell is the business reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach him, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.