Creative Genius– Ross Oscar Knight

1. People regard you as a creative person. Do you agree? Please explain your answer.

What most people don't really know about me is that I am a complete nerd disguised as a creative mind. I majored in Electrical Engineering in college and worked for an electric utility company for about 5 years before becoming a full time photographer. I could probably take my camera apart and find a way to create a remote control or a battery powered toy car out of it. I even personally re-wired some of the electric circuits in my very first home. I guess that requires some creativity.

I never knew as a child that I would actually be a photographer, however, I did know that I would do or be something creative. As a child I always felt that I saw events differently than others. I was very observant and a little hyper to say the least. After an outing, I used to ask my family and friends if they recognized or remembered certain colors or people and they would look at me like I was crazy. I found it hard to articulate my senses and I used to stutter. One day I picked up a camera and realized that I could capture the ambiance of a situation or an event and then recreate it as a photo story.

I think that is still where my creativity lies - my story telling.  The art of telling stories through photography requires a strong sense of visual creativity and a desire to connect with other people.

2. Looking at what you have created in the past, would you change anything today? Why or why not?

No, not at all. Everything that I have done in my life and every image that I have created has been for a purpose. I have captured the world as God has given me eyes to see it. I think about how the world is a beautiful creation and we are all blessed just to be living here. We are all part of God's creation and as long as I am blessed with eyes to see and hands to hold my camera, I will be capturing the visions that God has given me. Every day that I wake up, I experience the world in my own unique way.

Backtracking is not an option for me. My life is a testament of forward movement and I accept the fact that sacrifice and willpower are necessary to achieve success.

Past, present, and future I would not change anything.

3. Have you ever doubted your talent? If so, how did you work through your doubt?

Yes. I have doubted my talent many times. Am I good enough, will people like the images I produce, how do I continue at this pace? One thing I have done to get over my doubts is to ask myself the question, “What makes me special?” The answer is - MY VISION. I pray before all of my photoshoots that God will give me the vision and the fortitude to create unforgettable art. Further, I ask that my mind be refreshed and my conscience be erased of any insecurity. Works every time!

4. Have you ever felt enlightened by an event in the past that has given you a new perspective on life? Please explain.

One day I visited with an elderly family member. It was about 6 years ago. She told me stories about my great grandfather that I had never heard. I learned about his ambitions as a small business owner and the struggles he had during the Civil Rights Movement. That one day I felt so blessed to be in his lineage. My great grandfather (Buster) was an amazing man that made extreme sacrifices for his family. I walk in the footsteps of the giants of my past. This one conversation enlightened my view of sacrifice to succeed. I want to make my ancestors proud and I hope to be an inspiration to future generations of my own family.

5. If you and I were to trade places, tell me one thing about yourself that I should know.

Everyone thinks that photography is an easy career path and an easy business to operate. That may be true in some cases but every career has its ups and downs and every business has its challenges, especially small businesses. It takes a creative person to be a photographer but it takes sound business principles to run daily operations of marketing, management, administration, finances and continued growth. I have so many photographer friends that went to college to get a photography degree. They are now struggling to keep their businesses profitable. Its not all fun and games. I may have an Electrical Engineering and Physics Degree from Morehouse College and Georgia Tech but I run my business more efficiently than most other photographers that I meet.

6. If you could choose a theme song for the rest of your life, what would it be?

100 Years by Five For Fighting. Every time I listen to that song it makes me reflect on life. The song is about a person going through their life and looking back on each decade. The moral of the song is that it is never to late to accomplish the things that you want in life. I truly believe in that. I speak with people every day from teenagers to great grandparents that talk to me about how to be inspired to achieve their dreams. Many of them have been to my website and have seen my photography!

7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Please explain your choice.

I would live in New York! New York represents the American Dream. Immigrants from around the world came to New York with a dream that they could make it even if they were in a dire economic situation. I could stay there and document life for years. Also, the airport there has flights to everywhere in the world so I could visit anywhere without always taking connecting flight!

8. If your creative works had an odor, what do you think they would smell like? Why?

Coffee beans. When you go to purchase perfume or cologne from a specialty store like Sephora, they have coffee beans available. Once you smell one scent all you have to do is take one sniff of the coffee beans and it clears your nose. I like to think of my work as refreshing. Even though there are thousands of photographers out there, once you view my work I like people to think of it as refreshing.

Other scents I think about are ginger, peaches, chocolate, and syrup.

9. If you could change one aspect of our society through your work, what would it be?

“Build Community Through Photography”  - © KNIGHT 2007

I find that the majority of people I meet are way too closeminded!

Loving what you see is my vision, Building Community Through Photography is my purpose and my dream. I seek to challenge my audience to explore cultures other than their own. I want to promote cultural understanding and to connect my viewers in a way that cannot be done through the biases of the media. I work to ensure that the readers of my writings and viewers of my photography explore the similarities they have to people around the world instead of the differences that separate and divide so many.

10. How do want people to remember you?

“…the key is to love what you see.”  - © KNIGHT 2004

Ross Oscar Knight was not just a photographer; he was a person that loved people. He encouraged others to discover their passion and to put it to use. Ross believed that every person on earth possessed a unique God-given gift that had to be unlocked to achieve true success and self-fulfillment.

Lifestyle Photojournalist

Ross sought to tell stories through his images. He was passionate about connecting to his subjects and capturing images that represented their true personalities. He was not a fan of traditional posing techniques so he invited his subjects to be natural and let the shoot unfold.

11. If you could be any part of a camera what part would you be? And why?

I would be the internal sensor of the camera. The sensor does so much to bring the actual image that a photographer captures to life. It’s the brains of the camera. Before digital technology film used to capture wavelengths of light and then the photographer would have to take that film to a lab and develop it in a darkroom. Fast-forward to digital camera technology and the sensor captures light and produces an image instantly. When I am shooting and people ask me what I am looking for and what I am thinking about – I tell them that I am like a sponge. I am soaking in everything around me from sights to sounds to aromas to temperatures to colors to personalities to textures to light to shadows to shapes…and the list goes on. I would want to be the sensor of a camera so that I could still absorb as much of my environment as possible and translate what I capture into images that tells stories.