Sanders Park is a self proclaimed photographer, printmaker, and storyteller trained in structural engineering with special emphasis in earthquake engineering from Stanford University. Sanders has toured the United States many times over by car, foot, and bicycle witnessing first hand the spectrum of American life. He has traveled abroad and worked with non-profits in Argentina, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Zimbabwe. Born in 1994 in Alpharetta, Georgia, his journey, though unique, is no more unique than yours. And it is this that Sanders draws inspiration to capture both the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Sanders is now a product designer of outdoor gear based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He wants to inspire you to venture down the route less traveled.
Why
It’s true many people don’t know why they do what they do, less businesses. It’s not an easy question to answer but if you take the time to read this, maybe then you’ll understand. Understanding why should be the impetus for everything.
I enjoy it. Selfish? Maybe. But I won’t sugar coat it. For me, each photo I take is more than an expression of what I see, it’s equally (if not more so), an expression of what I feel. Some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken I have never sold; I’m guessing because only I can see the beauty in the photo, I can feel how that photo made me feel when I took it. That or it’s a crappy photo but I like to believe the former. There are many saying around the idea that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and stuff like that; it’s all about perspective. It sounds cliche but it’s quite true. I’m convinced that beauty is a feeling, not an aesthetic...when you look at something, whether it is “art” or not, and you think to yourself, “Wow. That’s beautiful,” that’s beauty in and of itself.
To capture the moment. To document. To tell a story. I guess I’m a little obsessed with documenting my life and those in my life. It’s a way to tell the most beautiful story. Your story. Because you can make your story whatever you want it to be. Telling stories is uniquely human. It’s how we grow, learn, and connect with one another. A world without stories, what a tragedy that would be. It’s true a story doesn’t have to have pictures but doesn’t it make it more exciting?! When I was 10 years old, our home burned down. We lost pretty much everything, including my and my sister’s childhood photos, my mom and my dad’s childhood, yearbook, college, and wedding photos, and their parents’ photos too. Sometimes you take things for granted and sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.
I have a vision. A somewhat not well defined vision. A vision that seems rather unattainable. But isn’t that the point of a vision? When I was serving in Ghana, I brought my camera primarily to document the construction of a community latrine we were building. But it was soon apparent the children there loved having their photos taken, either because it was new and novel to them or they had never seen photos of themselves like that before. Since then, I have had the idea to start a non-profit or partner with an existing non-profit to photograph the childhood stories of youth around the world (for reasons too long to describe here). If nothing else than to provide them photographs to look back on of when they were truly happy and carefree.