Meet Bjorn Anderson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bjorn Anderson. 

Hi Bjorn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My journey as a creative started pretty young. I was always listening to music as a kid; I even had to have the radio on when I slept. Music is so ingrained in me that my brain can’t create without it today. I was also into film too! My family always took me to the movies every week, and I’d like to think that affected me when I took pictures of people. My mom always told me I was good at it. Music and film became the two pillars that moved me through life as I got older. In high school, I made the moves to get into directing. I took a drama class fell in love with telling a story. I wrote lots of screenplays, helped, and was in some short films, all using music and movies as my fountain of inspiration; I chose to go to college to be a film director. That’s when I discovered the third pillar, photography. I woke up and had a decent camera and no artistic friends one day. I just started taking pictures of things. I fell in love. I have learned how to connect all of those things and express the stories I want to tell throughout the years. Today I am a musician involved in two projects, and I am building a brand, DotXX Creative, that is centered around helping others create using my film and photography skills. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a challenge every step of the way. I couldn’t tell you how many times people told me I was wasting my life. I felt like I had to start over many times, and that was before covid. Film, Photography, and music are not cheap hobbies, and there were many opportunities that I had to miss out on because I couldn’t afford them. Another thing I have always had a hard time with was getting clients. I struggled for a long time with my self-worth as a creative because of it. Everyone I knew told me to make sure that I got paid for my work, but I could never find work that wasn’t free. Then, of course, covid killed the momentum I had going for one of my musical projects. It’s hard to do what you love when all you can do is survive, but my brain is always cooking up new ideas and projects for the future. I love making music, making films, and shooting photography, and nothing else speaks to my soul entirely as they do. I can’t give up on that, and I won’t. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a creative, specializing in telling stories through music, photography, and film. Most people know me as a photographer and singer in a band, and I am most proud of my project, Gentle Night, that same band. Almost all of my content for it is unreleased; we are waiting on a few things before Gentle Night comes out of Covid hibernation. It is one of the only projects I am involved in where my creativity hits all of my checkmarks. I’m very proud of what my fellow musicians and I have made with it, and I am excited to release it when the time comes. 

My mindset when it comes to creating and being a creative is what sets me apart from others. I love creating art, no matter how involved that is. It’s something to which I am very dedicated. But I love helping others, too. I want to provide an environment of acceptance and creativity, it’s what drives me, and I take it into my art. DotXX Creative as a brand is something I want to build with acceptance and dedication to art at its core. Let’s create something together! 

What does success mean to you?
Success has a different definition for every human that exists. I think many people put too much thought into the word, and I feel like an income level is attached to that word most of the time. Life is short. I would define success as doing what makes you happy. If you put forward effort into doing something that makes you happy and you follow that heartfelt feeling, I don’t understand how anyone could not count that as succeeding. 

Pricing:

• Photoshoots: $150-175 with no time constraints
• Video pricing is dynamic, based on budget and what the clients want, but starts around $400

Contact Info:

• Email: bjorn.vnderson@gmail.com
• Instagram: @bjor.vnderson
• Twitter: @bjorn_vnderson

Image Credits
Shelby Taylor
Christian Snyder
Stephanie Francis
Lindsay Kootz