Russell Soder

Where are you from:  Warwick, RI

Where do you live now:  Los Angeles, CA

How old were you at the time of this photo:
I’m pretty sure I was about 25.

How old do you expect to live to be:
I want to live until I can learn no longer.  But I guess that means forever….so I’ll settle for my time allotted.

What do you love to do in life?
I love to explore and celebrate the differences in human beings.  I usually do this in the form of acting (representing life) or through still, or motion photography (recording life).

What do you like about yourself?
I like the fact that I don’t like myself quite enough to be a dick.  I like that I somehow attracted my wife.  She is what I like most about me.

I have never directly known anyone who has died of AIDS.  I have

friends who live HIV positive, and I can’t imagine what it would be

like to lose them.

 

I have had acquaintances who died long before their time.  Friends of

friends.  One thing it taught me was impermanence, the inevitability

of all things to come to an end.  Some, sooner than others.  It made

me feel that I needed to push myself to live harder and want for less

while still reaching for more.   (It’s still a work in progress)

 

I believe the most important change should be conservation.

Regardless of politics (or complete lack thereof), we’re all starting

to come around to the realization that we are responsible for the

future of our planet.

 

My favorite memories range from the simple things, like movie nights

with my family when I was a pre-teen, to major turning points like

getting married to my beautiful wife at 30.  One thing that always

stands out in my mind was how I felt when I learned I was going to

school to pursue theatre in New York City.  The feeing of

exhilaration that came with leaving a stable place and a life that

was well learned, for the absolute uncertainty of an artist’s life,

was both baffling and enlivening.  It’s those leaps of faith that you

never forget!