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This is a portrait I took of UFC Fighter George St. Pierre for Black Belt Magazine. After applying my new WWII veteran style of adding images from the past into the portrait, I realized I love applying multiple layers and textures to my portraits telling a more complex story either in post production or with my lighting. Adding layers to my photographs challenges me in new ways and creates infinite possibilities to tell a more emotional story.
I have an article in RangeFinder Magazine this month on my WW2 Veteran series. My grandfather took a famous portrait of Ernest Hemingway in 1952 and the portrait was on the cover of Rangefinder in the nineties. I love sharing this connection with my grandpa. 

My latest WWII Veteran portrait series consists of layering historical imagery into the photograph to tell a deeper story to the viewer. I want to push the layering style in my younger model photo shoots but rely on a layering more "in camera" and less in post production. Here is body builder Ryder Gordon I photographed recently with a layering of a star I created with my strobe lights. I have to find the right 35MM camera slide or print a slide on clear paper and then add put the slide into my strobe to create the shape or image. In these photographs I projected a very simple yet powerful star to create a moody and slightly mysterious setting of an athlete. 



When I met and photographed filmmaker Ken Burns


I photographed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns backstage on the San Jose State campus in the Silicon Valley. I was told by his PR person I had a time limit of minutes to meet Ken Burns and photograph him. I was pretty excited to meet him as we both focus on American sub cultures, blending the past with the present, and we both have books published on the subject of WWII. 
I have photographed a lot of celebrities for magazines in my career and in most cases the celebrities typically gives me a short window of time to photograph them as they are very busy. It is a challenge to create a photograph that evokes emotion to the viewer when time is limited.
I decided to photograph Ken Burns on a black backdrop and then add vintage photographs raining down all around him in post-production. The idea is that the films Ken Burns creates are filled with hundreds of old photographs to tell the greater story of the subject of his film. Ken Burns and his team sifts through thousands and thousands of photographs for his films. I wanted the photograph to look a little mysterious as history is a mystery and we have to put the pieces together to figure out the truth. I have a feeling Ken Burns and my path will cross again in the future and I look forward to chatting with him again. 

My film I created has over 20,000 views and counting: Curvy Girl Lingerie Fat Shaming Mean Tweets Survivors, here is a link to my film:


https://youtu.be/AGdjYb1G540





Look Book Photographer - San Francisco 


Shortly after I got my book deal it was important that I found more WWII veterans with varying backgrounds to represent each war experience as best I could. It was important I found a POW to photograph and interview.  I was introduced to Louie Zamperini and got to photograph him at his Hollywood Hills home. Walking into Louie Zamperini's home was like walking into a museum as there were five Olympic torches sitting on the mantle he had carried, in his closet were WWII relics such as the Nazi flag he is holding in the photo above he stole from the Reich Chancellery during the 1936 Olympics in which he competed, and many other artifacts. Zamperini was a walking war relic himself.
While Zamperini's photograph and shorter version of his story is in my book, I did not read Unbroken until a trip my wife and I took to Peru earlier this year as I thought I knew his story well. Louie Zameprini's plane crashed landed on the ocean and one was one of three survivors, was captured by the Japanese and became a POW, he survived the harsh conditions of the camps, and then overcame alcoholism after returning to the United States, and then became a positive community figure.  The struggles he overcame before, during, and almost more importantly after the war, helped put my life into even greater perspective. Not that my own struggles are not important, but it made me feel like I can overcome challenges and not have to be stressed.
Shortly after I finished Unbroken, I was surfing in Lima, Peru (and was rusty from not surfing in a long while) and I began to loose my balance and feared of falling into the rocky reef. But, then I thought of Zamperini and what he was able to accomplish. I maintained my balance and rode my wave into the shore. 
This recent summer amongst many other jobs, I have been photographing grape growers for Bedrock Wine Co. The series is called “Bedrock Wine Growers.” One of the things Morgan asked me to do was capture the growers holding dirt from their property as it is the soil that adds a lot of the characteristics to the wine. As you can see their is a wide variety of soil in regions very close to each other in proximity and these are only 9 of the 20 growers!
I have been photographing portraits for the San Jose State University marketing department for a few years now and a bunch of the banners with my portraits on them just got hung up around campus.
Group shot from one of my gallery show openings in Los Angeles from last week.
I think tonight was either my 14th or 16th permanent World War II veteran gallery show opening this year. Two month break for now! On the left is me with Izzy, one of the World War II veterans I photographed. Such a nice guy. And on the right is the color guard for the opening ceremony.
San Jose State University just launched their university rebranding with all of my portraits I have been working on with them for the past few years:



Another great veterans photography show opening tonight in West Los Angeles. There was a wonderful military presence from UCLA and active soldiers from around the country paying homage to our WW2 vets. And now I'm flying home. 
My WW2 show opening in Los Angeles, CA is looking spectacular for tonight's show opening.
Had a wonderful veterans show opening in Sherman Oaks this evening. Things got a little emotional for me when a group of 9 WW2 veterans thanked me for doing this project. Not that photographing portraits of the veterans is about me. It is all about them and their sacrifices. Pretty cool.
Show opening number one in Burbank, CA done! There was an all girl high school rock band playing songs from the WW2 era at the show opening. They were rad! 
I have been working with the San Jose State University marketing department for a few years now photographing portraits and creating films. San Jose State is currently launching a new rebranding and here are some of my portraits hanging in the new student union. I  am always impressed by these individuals as I get to capture and learn from a wide variety of people from laureates, to marine biologists, to inventors, and many others.
Here is a photo I just received from one of my veteran openings in Sunnyvale, CA back in June of me giving a speech in an honor of our aging veterans. Just landed in Louisville, KY and then off to Memphis, TN for two of my permanent veteran show openings this week!
I had an interview on CBS channel 3 in Memphis, Tennessee this morning on my veterans art gallery opening today and on the photo shoot tour.


Great news coverage in Louisville, KY on CBS on my permanent WW2 veterans photography gallery opening yesterday:  http://m.wlky.com/news/portraits-of-local-veterans-get-national-attention/34810212
I had a great in studio interview this morning on ABC Memphis. The live interviews are always pretty fun.
A behinds the scenes photo and also an out take from an advertising job I shot on Friday of grandpas and grandmas on computers!
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/5929238

Here is my channel ABC Memphis, TN interview from this morning on Local Memphis live!

Spectacular letter from one of the veteran's family members of one of the veterans I photographed. Letters like this remind me how much I enjoy doing this project:

Dear Tom,

My name is Amy K. and my grandfather resides at Belmont Village in Sunnyvale. I wanted to take a moment to send you a note of gratitude for taking such a beautiful photo of my grandfather and all the residents. It truly means the world to me to have someone honor my grandfather with such a dignified photo recognizing some of his accomplishments in his life. I choked up the moment I realized he had been included.

The last year of my grandfather's life have been filled with tragedy and loss. He lost my grandmother in October, 2014 and right before that he lost his ability to speak due to a stroke. Most recently he has lost his ability to walk independently. Due to his needs so much of his dignity has been taken from him.

Whenever he has been in the hospital or he is with caregivers and I am by his side I try to share a little about my grandfather - that he was a graduate from MIT, he was an aeronautical engineer, and he put some of the earliest satellites into space to spy on the Russians. Though he can't share these details himself, he always smiles when I tell others.

Without taking too much of your time, I could go on and on. I just wanted to send a heartfelt thank you for taking the time to capture pictures of my grandfather and so many beautiful men and women. Our elderly are lost and forgotten so often, but you truly captured their grace and beauty in your photos.

I am filled with heartache and sadness most of the time when I visualize or think about my grandfather's situation and his life right now. But since seeing your photograph of him, now when I see him in my mind, I see the man I want to remember for the years to come.

Thank you so very much for giving me this gift.

With gratitude,
Amy K.

My book with the Stanley Cup!!! No joke! The CEO of the Chicago Blackhawks recently received my book. 
In an unprecedented merger, two celebrated icons came together in Chicago this week to acknowledge and recognize two distinct groups of champions – the Chicago Blackhawks and the Veterans who love them. The Stanley Cup stands proudly behind our veterans, represented by Thomas Sanders’ award-winning book, in deference to their sacrifices and in support of Belmont Village Senior Living ongoing efforts to learn their stories and honor their service.
I have been given a second opportunity to travel the country and photograph our remaining WWII veterans at 22 cities around the country in 2015 and  2016. Belmont Village Senior Living has commissioned me to travel to their communities off and on since 2008 to photograph veterans living in their communities. In 2010, I got a book published with Welcome Books, a subsidiary of Random House on WWII veterans called THE GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WWII. Originally, I photographed the veteran at a lower angle and against the sky as it was a challenge to get some of the veterans to stand for a long time or I wanted to show little of their wheelchair or walker. Photographing them at a lower angle with a tight cropping focused on the objects they held from the war and the deep lines of their faces and hands. I have always thought of their wrinkles as map lines  from the experiences they had in life. It is tragedy when people erase their lines with plastic surgery hiding the moments created from their past.

On this second round of photographing the veterans, I have incorporated the veteran's images from the war to add more "depth" into helping reveal the veteran's past to the viewer. I love blending art and history together to hopefully change the perspective of the viewer. We need to honor and remember the experiences of our past generations and the sacrifices they made for us. Maybe that old man that was driving 15 MPH in the 30 MPH zone that you honked at last week fought in the Battle of the Bulge or was a Holocaust survivor.

Here are several new photographs of veteran's from Chicago, Atlanta, and northern California. At each location, the veteran's portrait is accompanied with a short story or quote from their experiences. The veteran's families, friends, doctors, and the general public get a glimpse as to who these men and women were 70 years ago.

I have two show openings this week:

Belmont Village San Jose
500 S. Winchester Blvd.
Exhibit Opening
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Belmont Village Sunnyvale
1039 East El Camino Real
Exhibit opening and reception
Thursday, July 2, 2015
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

There will be four show openings in the Chicago area the week of July 19th 















I have started traveling to 20 locations around the country through Belmont Village to photograph our remaining WWII veterans. I started this project when I was 21 years-old at Cal Poly SLO and the series took on a life of its own being published as a book with Random House/Rizzoli and has exhibited at 20 permanent locations around the country. I have been photographing veterans now for almost ten years! The series is about preserving and honoring our WWII heritage. My grandfather Willis Sanders stormed the beaches of Normandy on day three of the invasion and his brother Robert Sanders (who my dad was named after), died in the Battle of Bulge. The back cover of my book is made up of a grid of about 20 veterans. All of them have passed away. In the next 5 years, there will be very few WWII veterans. It is important we honor them. Here are some of my new portraits!