THESKINI.COM

July 2004

Images of Ross Andersson

by Martina Priadka

Being a photographer and filmmaker always appears to be a glamorous life. Surrounded by beautiful women all the time, making your own schedule, traveling to amazing places and getting paid for it. How could this not go to your head? But by living in an honest and grateful way you can have all these things without the ego. This is Ross Andersson.

Living between New York and Minneapolis Ross plans his time very carefully. Most business dealings are made on the run. Officing mainly from his mobile phone and in his car, Ross has left the trappings of the traditional studio behind and developed a way of doing business that is more free and creative. He is an artist who gives all of his success credit to those who he works with; the models, the make up artists, the stylists and all the talented individuals involved in his daily work. He knows what he does is a collaborative process and that without every person that contributes to each project he cannot have success.

theskini.com had a moment to find out who RCSA is in his own words….

TS: So what is the rest of your name Ross?

RCSA: My full name is Ross Charles Sather Laurence Andersson. My working moniker is rcsa

TS: How do you describe what it is you do for a living?

RCSA: I would describe myself as a photographer and a filmmaker.

TS: Do you think of it as work?

RCSA: No, not making pictures. Whether I am making moving pictures or still pictures, it is not work. I would characterize it more as an obsession or a really entertaining distraction from the problematic real world.

TS: What you do for play?

RCSA: When my aging Moto Guzzi is not in the garage I like to ride for the few summer months we have. That is probably my most relaxing distraction from work. I also spend a lot of my spare change at First Ave. Blur and Spirtualized were highlights this past year. I saw Tortoise a few weeks ago. That was a great show.

TS: What was the best experience you have had so far in your profession?

RCSA: I signed the lease for my apartment in New York City September 4, 2001. Everyone suggested that I reconsider the timing for my move after the attack. As stubborn as I can be, I packed my bike and my dog and drove to my new apartment in queens to began my career as a New York photographer and filmmaker. Five months later, as I was pushing a metal grocery cart down the streets of Chelsea, delivering food to Manhattan's richest, I had this beautiful moment of clarity, of clear perspective. Suddenly I realized there are no stakes professionally speaking. So what, I’m in NYC, penniless, collecting tips for cigarettes and the cheapest New Jersey vodka money can buy.

It is really cheap but I was happy because sometimes it is easy to get lost in a profession, to lose yourself and forget what’s important. It really shook my idea of what 'making it’ is about. It was a humbling experience that I needed because out of it I really began to start producing my important work.

TS: What was your worst experience?

RCSA: The worst time was probably my very first test shoot. 'Tests' are shoots that photographers put together to get images that they can put into their portfolios to attract clients. Coming from a fine art photography background, I didn't have any fashion work in my book so this was my first shoot with a model, make-up artist and a wardrobe stylist and it was a disaster. I had no idea how to schedule a shoot, how long it takes for wardrobe, for make-up. I was shooting on location and we were hours behind. I was leading the caravan to the location and I was just nervous as hell. You have these people who are not getting paid to do a shoot and they expect to get really great images for their respective portfolios. I just thought to myself, I’m screwed. I have no idea what I am doing and pretty soon these guys are going to figure it out. I was trying to quit smoking at that time but I was so nervous and I knew there was half a cigarette rolling around under the car seat. I fished it out, lit up and prayed for an accident or some other act of God to intervene on my doomed shoot. When we got to the location we just ran from the car. It was too dark to do my original shot so we found a new spot. I had five minutes to shoot. I got exactly one roll off. The sun dropped and we all went home.

I didn't like any of the images. When people called for the picks I just leveled with them. You can't give people bad pics. It’s funny because all photographers and filmmakers have their first shoots where they are just completely making the whole thing up. It’s part of the process but it’s a terrible moment when you look at your crew and realize that they know that you don't know what you are doing. Of course I laugh at it now. It's the future worst moments I fear.

TS: If you had to choose another career now what would it be?

RCSA: A realistic career? When I was a kid I wanted to be a long haul trucker but today I regret not becoming a motorcycle racer, an international soccer star and a well paid transatlantic commercial airline pilot. I would also like to be a rock musician. The lead singer preferably. When should I stop?

TS: What career would you never do?

RCSA: Accountant. I like them and I actually need one, I just wouldn't want to be one. I was never good at numbers. I cheated on my ninth grade algebra test. I got the answers from my friend Cliff who was in an earlier hour. I wrote them on my hand under my watchband. It was brilliant. The only problem was that I went from the lowest math grade in my class to getting the highest score on the final. My math teacher wondered how that happened. I told him that I studied really, really hard. Cliff did not seem that bright to me or to any of us but clearly he was brilliant at math. I, however, failed and besides one senior math class, I got through college without math at all, which brings me back to the accountant.

TS: What habits do you have that you would like to change?

RCSA: Everyone who knows me knows that what goes into my car stays there. Coffee cups, wrappers, bags of plastic bottles to be recycled. I haven't been in my trunk for over a year. I store boxes in there. I have a garden hose, bags of stuff that used to be in the front of the car that I relocated to the trunk. It's a process. Eventually I will be forced to move some things from the trunk to make room for stuff piling up in my back seat.

TS: What is the most difficult part of your job?

RCSA: Technical problems. It is really distracting sometimes and it can draw your attention away from other important details in a shot.

TS: What got you started?

RCSA: Fear of poverty. I was trying to make a run as a career student. I was living off student loans. I was traveling to exotic places. I enjoyed reading, hanging at coffee houses and studying, of course. It was a nice life but they put a cap on my lifetime student loans and that pretty much ended my career as a student. At that time I didn't really consider photography as a legitimate profession. I was considering law school but my dad actually convinced me to pursue photography.

TS: What keeps you going?

RCSA: Making pictures, still or moving, there isn't anything I like to do more.

TS: How long have you been at it?

RCSA: Seven years

TS: Did you imagine a career like this when you were a child?

RCSA: Yes, I pretty much knew that I would do something in the arts from a very early stage. I've always liked making stuff.

TS: Is there any one person other than yourself who is responsible for where you are today?

RCSA: The top pick would definitely be a photographer by the name of Joel Larson. He is a super talent and also a generous and down to earth guy, which is a great and rare combination in this business. I couldn't get a better mentor.

TS: How do you describe yourself?

RCSA: Mellow, not caught up, easy going. That is a really hard question. I don’t want to be a personality.

However he sums himself up, Ross seems to lead a down to earth life that treats him really well in return.

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