John Sanderson (photographer)

Sanderson was born in New York City. Describing his earliest visual memories as "looking out the window and feeling fascinated by the landscapes going by",^[2] much of his work includes landscapes as something independent of their intended use. He received a degree in political science and his work is rooted in a cultural geography framework.^[3] Sanderson was twice awarded a docent scholarship from the Center for Railroad Photography and Art.^[4] His railroad landscapes were the subject of a solo exhibition at the New York Transit Museum from September 2014–April 2016. He has photographed broadly since that time, including seven months in Carbon County, Wyoming in 2017 and a commission to photograph the Commonwealth of Kentucky during the spring of 2022.

Sanderson is best known for his boldly printed color photographs made from large format film. While his early work was in black and white, a shift to color printing occurred after he began to photograph exclusively with the large format camera.^[5] Transitioning to large format film enhanced his photographic process on many levels.^[6] The subjects in his photographs range from the urban landscapes of New York City to the High Plains of Wyoming. Underpinning his work is a passion for architectural design.^[7]

Sanderson's photographs are captured outdoors.^[8] His early photographs document the industrial landscapes across his native Northeastern United States.^[9] Sanderson began to expand his photographic investigation into the broader American landscape in 2009. It was during this trip through the American Midwest when he made the pivotal photograph Steel Mill and Houses, Lackawanna, New York. Sanderson began photographing the American West in 2015 and returned to Wyoming in 2017 where he spent seven months photographing the Carbon County project.

In April 2022 the Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project commissioned Sanderson to photograph the state of Kentucky using his 8 x 10 view camera. Traveling throughout the state in his vintage 2004 Ford Freestar, Sanderson's trip lasted four and a half weeks and resulted in the Kentucky Commission project.

• The Railroad and The Art of Place, Center for Railroad Art, 2022
• Everything is Narrative, Subjectively, Objective, 2022
• Investigations in Infrastructure, Subjectively, Objective. 2022
• Magnetic West: The Enduring Allure of the American West, Skira, 2020
• Carbon County Folio Box and Booklet, Zatara Press, 2019
• After Promontory: 150 Years of Transcontinental Railroading, Indiana University Press, 2019
• Issue 4 – John Sanderson: National Character Monograph, Subjectively, Objective, 2018