AN INTERVIEW WITH BEN RITTER

One of my favorite stories about Ben Ritter is from a party at his house years ago. A mutual friend had arrived to show off his brand new, wildly colored tattoo of a shark or something. After we'd all finished gushing over the amazingly vivid colors Ben calmly stated, "yeah, well it's gonna fade soon." BOOM! It wasn't sugarcoated but it was the truth and it stung, especially the tattoo owner. Ben's a very honest person and that translates to his photos as well. He's not one for much digital manipulation, he lives in the moment and he lets his images stand as iconic memories of some wild experiences instead of trying to reshape the past. He's got a keen eye for telling a story in a single image, skilled enough to capture and present any image he can imagine and savvy enough to have made it his job and it's a job that he takes very seriously. To me photography is kind of "hmmm OK" but the way Ben talks about photography makes me feel like it's totally "ohhhhh snaaaaappppp!!"

Vice: I asked a close friend of yours what he thought I should ask you and his first response was "Ask him about being a goth." Good friend, huh?
Ben Ritter: Yes, I was a gothy teen at one point.

I know, and I sometimes stop whatever I'm doing and think about that. What DID ben look like?
That I was gothy ?

No, I believe the goth story, I just wish I was there is all.
Dude, I didn't even want to be there. I liked weird girls though, so it was one way to attract them.

Good point, everyone's got to have an angle.
That is something we never grow out of, always doing things to get the girls we want. It's nature.

Anyways, it was a snotty comment, but I thought about it a bit and wondered how it plays into your work now.
I am not sure it visually plays in at all, but it certainly was a time in my life that shaped my future, shaped the type of person I was going to be. As in, never wear a suit and sort of have a giant middle finger to the conventional world. Even if it's very light-hearted now.

Well, when I think about your work, both professional and personal, I think about a lot of action. You're really into the "moment." That split second that captures the look and the mood of what's happening. That moment is usually an overly excited action, something wild and fun but that excitement often carries an underlying darkness.
Well, I am attracted to beautiful people doing ugly things. It makes for a nice aesthetic. Not everything has to be so literal, but overall I would like people to recognize what I turn my lens on and what I edit down to.

There's also lot of happiness in your photos though.
Well sure, most of my personal work is shot when I am having fun. When I am having a bad night I tend to keep the camera in my pocket.

What are your three favorite photos you've taken?
I am not sure I am that big a fan of my work like that. I'm more into the "whole big thing."

Really? Do you look back at your past work ever?
The other day I came across a big box of large-format portraits I shot in college. I hated finding it. I don't even want to throw it away because someone may pull it out of the trash. I need a shredder. Honestly, I often like my most recent work. Anyway, I can pull three from my personal work. That seems to be the photos we are discussing?

Well that's fine, but I'm talking about any of your work. Wait, are you saying you just automatically like your newest work?
Sometimes you don't have your best day and I can move past that, but I lose sleep over thinking about all aspects of what I am trying to accomplish and how I am going to get "there." Really, I love stuff from the past, but maybe it's just that I have caught my stride in the last two years or so. Me really liking my own work is sort of new to me actually.

What was the change? You met a standard you'd had or was there a breakthrough?
I think it has all been very organic, to use a word I don't like very much. I don't remember a EUREKA moment, but as I update my portfolios and websites I find it harder and harder to let older things go, because they aren't that old and they are still good and I'm not exactly that deep into my prime.

Moving on to more important topics: You work from home mostly. How much time would you say you're in the nude?
I'm not much of a nudist, but I have definitely negotiated some big jobs in a towel, for example.

Counts.
Well, I'd say 15 work hours on a work from home week can easily be spent in a towel. Really depends on what's going on. Sometimes I'll get out of the shower, lots will be going on and it's like, OK, emails, photoshop, edits, bills and then its 3 PM and I'm still sitting in my towel, you know? My hair doesn't look good long so that is how I express my freedom.

Oh I definitely know. I've spent entire days naked or in a towel. No boss = no clothes!
That should have been my answer. Actually, that is my answer.

What's your favorite nationality?
?

…of food!
Totally was wracking my brain to think of one with a funny-sounding name. Now I'm like, "Oh, well Mexican if I'm in California, and Italian in New York. No Brainer." Mexican in NYC can sorta s the d.

OK, here's a fun one, you have a choice: give up photography (which you love) or eat cilantro (which you hate potentially more than anything else in this world) every day for a year.
So I have to eat the cilantro to keep my livelihood and subsequently my career?

I'm not sure if it makes up a lot of your meal or a small bit, but from what I understand that doesn't matter to you as it ruins food no matter what.
Yeah, a tiny shard can kill an entire burrito, especially if it's the last bite. Wait, I mean, what choice would I have? Why am I in this predicament in the first place?

Because it's 2012 and the aliens are here and they're totally ruining our lives with weird rules!
Do the aliens have good job opportunities for me to explore? What if they have some other hobby that you can make a career out of that I'm really good at?
No.
So they aren't hiring, same job market here, photo is my only means to make ends meet?

Oh my god, is your plan to just ask aliens a ton of specific questions until they give up and let you be a photographer?
If you're telling me all I have to do is bore the shit out of the aliens then I'm all over it.

I think you already answered and whatever I'm trying to get at about your personality has probably already been answered by this exercise.
I really don't like cilantro.

JOHN MCSWAIN
Vacations NYC