I have not been working on the blog lately. I have been working on my book tour blog! Please take a look at all the posts to catch up:

http://lastgoodwar.blogspot.com/

HI ALL,

CHECK OUT MY MOST RECENT NEWS CLIP. I WAS ON THE NEWS IN HOUSTON ON FOX, FOR THE LAST GOOD WAR!

TAKE A LOOK!

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/101105-new-book-honors-local-wwii-veterans

Please take a look at the most recent THE LAST GOOD WAR book tour blog:

http://lastgoodwar.blogspot.com/

Hi All,

Please take a look at THE LAST GOOD WAR book tour blog!

http://lastgoodwar.blogspot.com/2010/10/first-stop-west-point.html

There will be more to come. Here is the list again of book signings and presentations:

http://www.welcomebooks.com/lastgoodwar/press.html

We are currently in Washington DC, and speaking at the Navy Museum tomorrow at 12.

Can you find it?


I went into Barnes and Noble last night and I found THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WWII in the "NEW" section. It feels so good to see it in a bookstore. SO GOOD.

http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3066255

DUN DUNNNN DUNNNNNNNNN DUNNNNNNN (INTRO MUSIC IN A HIGH PITCHED VOICE)

Hey Everyone, THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WWII hits stores today all over the country!!!! My book should be in any Barnes and Noble or Borders. I start my book tour on October 26th in New York. I welcome all of you to come to the book tour dates if you live in a city I will be traveling to. I will post the dates towards the end of the month. See More

Hi All,

THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WWII, is apart of both the Military and History Book Clubs.

Take a look!

http://www.militarybookclub.com/pages/nm/product/productDetail.jsp?skuId=1066893077

http://www.historybookclub.com/pages/nm/product/productDetail.jsp?skuId=1066893057

Please see my first book review from Publisher's Weekly!!!!

The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of World War II
Thomas Sanders, text by Veronica Kavass, intro. by Hampton Sides, Welcome, $45 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59962-085-5
Just the cover of this book can break your heart: an aged man in closeup, every wrinkle and blemish visible, holding a U.S. Navy emblem to his forehead, and he appears above the title: The Last Good War. The veterans of that war, WWII, are captured in Sanders's debut--in their 80s and 90s, male and female, black and white. Some wear parts of their original uniforms; others hold artifacts of the time, like battalion photos, newspapers, or canteens. One sailor, dressed in white shirt and tie, still wears his cap at a jaunty angle. Oral historian Kavass has collected brief reminiscences from the veterans that don't underplay the horrors of war, from the Bataan march to the deaths of friends. But most memorable are the faces: solemn, proud, occasionally smiling, some looking directly into the camera, others looking off to the distance as if remembering the events of long ago. Anyone who is close to a member of the "greatest generation" will treasure these wizened faces captured before the entire generation is gone. (Oct.)

I have begun a series photographing older black jazz musicians. I have only photographed a few and there will be more to come.

The first musician is Bobby Brown. I took this photo of Bobby a few weeks ago. I spoke to him recently to make sure he received the photos I had sent him. He told me he got sick and has had to stop playing the saxophone and now has an oxygen tank to help him breathe. Bobby has been playing the sax for 65 years. I sincerely hope he gets better.

Bobby Brown gave me contact information for other jazz musicians. Clint Stacy was one of them. Clint played a jazz CD for me in his van. He drives around in his van listening to instrumental jazz music, and practices singing his lyrics. There was some type of irony for me, standing outside of his van, while he sat inside of the van. The music was cranked loud, and Clint's stage performance was even impressive sitting in his car seat. Even though it was 3 pm and hot as the devil in not the nicest of neighborhoods off the 10 freeway, when he sang the word "moon" he we would look and point at the sky as if the biggest moon you ever saw was 10 feet away. When Clint sang the word "love" he grasped his heart and looked out in the distance, and you would think he was looking at the most beautiful woman to ever live. Yet, there was a empty Burger King cup sitting in the cup holder, and the van had scattered goods all over the backseats. Clint was singing jazz sitting in his van in the driveway, and I was his audience.

I photographed a few images of him singing in the van. Although, I do not think these are necessarily great photos, I want you to see his facial expressions.

I was in Arizona this past weekend on a camping trip with my girl friend, and we went into a Circle K to see if we could find any of the ResQWater advertisement displays I photographed. We found a big display right smack in the middle of the alcohol section. It is a good feeling to be out and about and see a photo I shot in a nation wide store. Below is a shot from my cell!

I found this link today. It discusses the top 20 books for the fall, from independent publishers. LGW is on there!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/44297-rousing-the-sleepers.html

I met the owner of Ms. B's Soul Food Restaurant a few weeks ago on a shoot. I mentioned to her I was looking to photograph older women in their Sunday's best, and Ms. B said she has lots of women at her place on Sunday's and to come for a visit. So, I went to Ms. B's and set up my lights behind her restaurant and waited for elderly women coming from church to photograph. For the three hours I was there, I was only able to photograph 3 women. They all thought I was a little strange because I was standing in a parking lot, waiting to take their photo! One of the cooks came outside, and I did get a great portrait of him. I feel it is a rather strong image.

I love to google THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WWII, to see where it pops up as we get closer to the book release. I found this on Publishers Weekly, the article is about up and coming WWII books for the 2010 fall release. It is titled "Battle Cry," by Natalie Danford.

Portraits of War

In October, Welcome Books will publish The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of World War II, a collection of more than 150 b&w photographs of veterans and text of their recollections. Thomas Sanders, the photographer behind the project, was only in his 20s when he began creating the work.

Publisher Lena Tabori recalls, "It came in last summer as an unsolicited package of photographs—filled with incredible faces. We were fascinated by the idea that a young man had immersed himself, for almost two years, shooting and listening to WWII vets." The house then introduced the photographer to StoryCorps interviewer Veronica Kavass, who handled the text.

Although WWII ended 55 years ago, Tabori says this look at its veterans is of special importance today: "This is a story of a country united being published at a time when that same country is so profoundly divided. We are losing these veterans every day. It is critical to hear their stories and understand how to come together again."

dun dun DUNN dun dun DUUUNNNNNN dun dun DUUUUUNNNNNNN (intro music)!

I received my first book in the mail yesterday! It is a whopping 224 pages and weighs 4 lbs! You can get THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICE OF WWII on October 12th! A lot of exclamation marks, can you tell I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is beautiful.

LAST GOOD WAR

A Selection of the History Book Club and the Military Book Club.

Veteran’s Day: November 11
NEW YORK- October 28-29-30-31
•New York, Thursday, October 28
USO of Metropolitan New York
625 Eighth Avenue
North Wing, Second Floor

• New Jersey, Friday, October 29
Presentation and book signing
Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial
62 Battleship Place
Camden

PENNSYLVANIA-November 1
• Philadelphia, Monday, November 1
Penn Bookstore
Presentation and book signing, 2pm
hosted by the History Dept
3601 Walnut Street - University Square

Chestnut Hill Historical Society/Joseph Fox Bookshop.
Presentation and book signing, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Stagecrafters Theater
8130 Germantown Avenue


VIRGINIA – November 2
•Triangle, Tuesday, November 2
National Museum of the Marine Corps
Presentation and book signing
18900 Jefferson Davis Hwy



WASHINGTON, DC November 3
•Washington, D.C. , Wednesday, November 3
U.S. Navy Museum
Presentation and book signing, 12pm
805 Kidder Breese St. SE

VIRGINIA – November 4
• Norfolk, Thursday, November 4
Presentation and book signing, 11am
Naval Station Administrative Department

TEXAS-November 5-6-7
•Houston, Saturday, November 6
Museum of Fine Arts
Presentation and book signing, 1-3pm
1001 Bissonnet Street


TENNESSEE-November 8-9-10
• Nashville, Monday, November 8th
Davis-Kidd Booksellers
Presentation and book signing, 7pm
The Mall at Green Hills, Suite 281
2121 Green Hills Village Drive

LOUISIANA –November 10-11-12
• New Orleans, Thursday, November 11, 5-8pm
The National World War Two Museum
Reception from 5-6pm; talk from 6-7pm, book signing from 7-8pm
945 Magazine Street

CALIFORNIA-November 13-November 22
• San Francisco, Saturday/Sunday, November 13-14
•Sonoma: Monday, November 15
Book signing at Reader's Books, 7:30pm
130 E. Napa Street

•Corte Madera, Tuesday, November 16
Book signing at Book Passage, 7pm
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard

• Palo Alto, Wednesday, November 17
Book signing at Books, Inc.
855 El Camino Real # 74

• San Luis Obispo, Thursday, November 18
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Presentation and signing at California Polytechnic, 6pm
1 Grand Avenue
Building 34 Room 227

• Santa Barbara, Friday, November 19
Book signing at Border's, 7pm
900 State Street

•Los Angeles-November 20-21-22

• Pasadena –Saturday, November 20
Presentation and book signing, 5pm
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd

Hollywood --Sunday, November 21
American Legion Post No. 43, 4-6pm
Presentation and book signing
2035 North Highland Avenue


HAWAII- November 22-23-24-25
•Honolulu: Wednesday, November 24
Barnes & Noble, 12pm
Presentation and book signing
Ala Moana Center
1450 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 1272


CALIFORNIA
• San Diego, November 26-27-28:

The Veteran Museum
2115 Park Blvd.

ILLINOIS-November 29-December 1
•Chicago
Pritzker Military Library
Presentation and book signing
104 S. Michigan Ave, Suite 610

In the mail yesterday I received 700 book plates to be signed and shipped back to Welcome Books! I sat here this morning and signed all 700! The signed book plates go to anyone that buys directly from Welcome Books. Hopefully, if you are reading this, you will get one of them. If not, I will be happy to sign a copy for you. My girlfriend said she had to take photos of me signing the plates, and I had to post them online. She said if I did not let her take photos of me and blog about it, I would have to clean the shower floor. I decided it would be a good idea to do what she said. Enjoy!

Here is a photograph from a recent editorial assignment I shot this weekend. Krista Badagliacca is pictured in the photo and is the owner of Syzgzy, a cycling studio in Redondo Beach.

I photographed Lola Del Fresno this past Friday. She is a painter and sculptor, mainly making figures of the human body. Lola's talent lies in making the viewer feel the personality of her subjects from a very personal sense. A lot of her paintings make you feel as if you are looking into the soul of her subjects. Here are my portraits of her. Art is always a reflection of the artist. I tried to capture the art work of Lola and her personality with in my photographs.

I showed up at Alexey Steele's studio today and the lighting from the sky lights danced around his warehouse. I felt as if I had transformed back into the 1500's: giant Renaissance paintings hung everywhere with a modern day twist, busts scattered on tables and shelves, a couch for his subject matters, a wall filled with art books, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

I was introduced to him through a family friend, and when I looked him up, I knew I had to photograph him. He looks like a modern day Leondardo Da Vinci from the images on his website. Alexey travels all around the world painting, he was an honorary guest this week at a city in Macedonia and was suppose to give a speech, but had other work he had to attend to!

Take a look at his art work:

http://www.alexeysteele.com/index.php

Enjoy!

This past weekend I went to Desert Hot Springs with my girlfriend. We went to visit her dad at his desert home that backs up to a mountainous and plateau landscape. The neighborhood is rather fancy, and behind the homes is a long dirt road that can be taken over the mountains into the next town. There is not a lot out at her dad's place besides a golf club, it is a beautiful house, with a pool and hot tub. There is no immediate city right near by. We were there watching her brothers TV premier called Secret Worlds Michael Arbuthnot. It was a 6 hour extravaganza! While the shows were amazing, I needed to take a break from watching the tube.

Sometimes I get antsy, and I need to do something creative if I have not shot in a few days. I was feeling antsy! So, I decided to go on a nature walk and check-out the dramatic desert landscape. I started by shooting the mountain side with the long road going up and over, then I realized I was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and the desert was covered in garbage. People come and dump all their crap out in the desert. There was a shopping cart, numerous old tires, clothes, even a car someone left on the hill side. It made me kind of sad so many people use the desert as their own personal dump.

I own a book called Thinker Toys, and it is full of creative exercises. One of the exercises is to pick one color for the day, and only look for that color in your daily routine. If you were to pick red, then you would see the red stop sign, the red lipstick smear on your car seat, the red scab on your elbow... It opens up your mind to new ways of looking. I decided to only photograph the trash I could find on my desert hike. It was a rather interesting exercise. I am unsure how great these photos are, but I like them and I think they are rather poetic. Even on a desert hike where you think you would find very little traces of people, you can't escape traces of mankind, especially his garbage.

I photographed Amy De La Croix this past weekend, she is a model and also competes in pageants. She won the 2010 pageant contest called 'Ms Hell on Wheels.' I have a fascination for people who have a truly unique story to tell. If you were to see Amy walking down the street, she definitely sticks out and has a rather large personality. I decided to photograph her in two ways. As a pageant contestant winner with a lot of make-up and 'glammed-out' and holding a photo of her deceased parents; wearing little make-up and normal clothing attire.

Edith Shain passed away this past Sunday at the age of 93. I was the last photographer to photograph Edith for my book. She truly was the sweetest and most vivacious lady I have ever met. The funny thing about the famous photo of her kissing the sailor, you would think she is 8 feet tall! When I photographed Edith, I was on my knees, and we were about the same height. She must not be taller then 4'8". The point I am trying to make is Edith may have been a short person, but her soul and personality was monumental, and legendary. The photo of the sailor kissing Edith is one of the most famous images of WWII, if not American history.

I photographed Gary Vitti today. He has been the head sports trainer for the Los Angeles Lakers for the last 26 years! During game time he is right there on the bench between the players and coaches, dealing with all the injuries of the Lakers. Vitti is the first to show up and always the last to leave. He works 320 days a year, 7 days a week! I took his photo outside and in his 'Lakers room.' It is filled with championship basketballs signed by legendary Lakers, has a pair of Shaq's size 22 shoes hanging from the wall, and all sorts of other pieces of NBA history.

The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of WWII (my book) has just been made a selection of The History Book Club and a selection of The Military Book Club. Woo Woo!

Here are a few more new photos of the Bikers for Christ. I especially like these two images. I can't get over how tough I would think these men and women are if I did not know them. I would be too imitated to ever approach them. They are still extremely tough, but in a different way. Next week the Bikers for Christ south bay chapter is going on a fundraiser ride to raise money for a child with lymphoma cancer.

My publisher Welcome Books recently released it's 2010 fall titles. The mini-site (preview of the book) has not yet quite launched, so I should probably wait to share the news. But, I can't help it. I have to share the news!!!

I just added a Bikers for Christ section to my website:

http://www.tomsandersphoto.com/

I started this photo series about a month ago. I want people to be able to appreciate what this sub-culture does for society. They are an intimidating group of people at first glance. The second you get to know them, they are a group of big Teddy bear's.

I have started a photo series photographing women pole dancing in their homes. Now, I know what you are thinking... Pole dancing? Pole dancing at home? These women are not strippers, they only dance by themselves, or in front of other women. They have told me, it is a liberating experience to dance on the pole, and it takes great strength. They also feel incredibly comfortable in front of other women, some won't even dance for their husbands!
Both women in each image have incredibly strong bodies. I heard recently pole dancing was trying to be added to the Olympics. These women are gymnasts! I am not a scientist or a sports trainer, but I guarantee, most men, and young men like myself, could not jump on that pole, and accomplish what these women do.