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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 ?

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.

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.
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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."

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.

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.
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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.

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?
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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
