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!