DICK SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHY
La Quinta, California 92253                                                    About      Purchase     Contact
     
About Dick Sanders
Here's how it happened. My parents gave me a Brownie camera on my 6th birthday, probably because I wouldn't leave my dad's more expensive camera alone. I just loved everything about it: making pictures, looking at pictures, showing pictures. By age 13, I talked my mom into going to the camera store and buying some basic darkroom gear and chemicals, which I then set up in the bathroom after dark. My folks got tired of that soon enough. So, when I turned 14, they had my uncle come over and build a darkroom for me in the garage. It was heaven. I spent hundreds of hours there. By age 18, I started a freelance photography business, attempting to photograph people out yachting and selling the prints to them later. I soon failed at that. At age 22, after some time in college and the Naval Air Reserve, I landed a job with Sid Avery, who is best known for his Hollywood portraits of such stars as Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, and Elizabeth Taylor. Avery also did both of the famous "Oceans Eleven" publicity photos. When I worked for him, however, he was doing primarily advertising photography. We worked on big campaigns for Toyota, Coffee-Mate, Brown and Jordan, Mattell, and U.S. Steel. After about 18 months, I left the Avery studio and started my own business, shooting album covers, publicity, and trade-ad photos for the music industry. Some of the artists I met at this time were Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, James Taylor, and Barbara Streisand. But after awhile, I realized I loved photography too much to mix it with business, which I didn't particularly like. So, I decided to switch careers, first to advertising sales, then to advertising copywriting, which I still do today. This move allowed me to pursue photography on a personal basis, which made me a lot happier. By the early 1990s, I decided to make "serious portraiture" the focus of my fine-art work, and that continues to this day. Photographers past and present that I admire are Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Mary Ellen Mark, and Flor Garduno. Today, I make my home in La Quinta, California with my fantastic Wife, Maryann Jane, and our Turkish cat, Teddy. Beyond photography, my interests are movies, Italian food, and playing the guitar. That's it in a nutshell!
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About the Photographs
To create my photographs I use a variety of film-camera formats, including 6x4.5cm, 6x7cm, 5x7 and 8x10 inch view, and 5x7 and 8x10 inch pinhole. My favorite camera for portraiture is the Pentax 6x7 II with 90mm and 135mm lenses. This camera produces a generous negative 2 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches. I prefer Ilford Delta Professional 100 and 400 films, processed in Kodak xTol 1:1. In the darkroom, I use a Calumet Zone VI 5x7 inch enlarger fitted with a variable contrast cold-light head and print on Calumet Brilliant and Forte Elegance fiber-base papers. I develop in Clayton P-20 and finish with a bath of Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner for archival permanence. All photos are in editions of 22 prints. 11x14 inch prints are $450 unmatted and $500 matted, not including shipping. To purchase a print go to www.photoeye.com/dicksanders or send me an email.
Gallery Representation
Photoeye, Photographers Showcase
376 Garcia Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501
(505) 988-5152 www.photoeye.com/dicksanders
Solo Exhibitions
1998     The Portraits at Sam´s Market, Park Center Gallery, Joshua Tree, California

1994     Our Children, Monument Galleries, Joshua Tree, California
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Group Exhibitions
2006     International Art of Photography Show, Lyceum Theater, San Diego, California

2002     American Photo Readers´ Contest #7, American Photo Magazine, New York City

1997     The Varieties of Spiritual Experience, 29 Palms Art Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California

1996     The Red Door: A Floating Opera, Tanno Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California

1996     The Hollywood Portraits, Tanno Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California
Awards and Recognition
2002     1st Place, Portraits & People category, Readers´ Contest #7, American Photo Magazine, New York City

1995     1st Place, Members Show, 29 Palms Art Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California

1994     1st Place, Members Show, 29 Palms Art Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California

1994     1st Place, Southland Show, 29 Palms Art Gallery, Twenty-Nine Palms, California
Publications
American Photo Magazine. David Schonauer, Editor. Hachette Filipacchi Media, New York, NY, 2002

Best of Photography Annual. Linda Lowell, Steve La Voie, Douglas Peck. Glen Serbin, Photographer's Forum, Santa Barbara, California, 1997.
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Other Cool Photo Sites
Lori Nix Photography

Ken Rosenthal Fine Art Photography

Thomas Michael Alleman

Wm. Fridrich
Design By: Brian Brown
Copyright © Dick Sanders Photography 2008