A Conversation with Aerial Photographer Andrea Sanders
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Andrea Sanders graduated from the University of Virginia in 1991 with a BA in both Fine Art and English Literature. In 1996 she received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts Department of Photography and Related Media, culminating in an exhibit of photographic mixed media works at the Visual Arts Gallery in Soho. She followed at the Bronx Museum’s Artists in the Marketplace seminar program, which resulted in a 1997 museum exhibition and, since then, has exhibited in numerous group shows in and around New York City. Her studio is located in Brooklyn, where she also resides. What follows is a brief conversation between Caryn Hirshleifer and Andrea Sanders.
Caryn: Why aerial photography? How did you get into that medium and why do you like it?
Andrea: I have always been interested in the disconnect between the stillness of our surroundings (the earth, architecture, etc) and the movement of time. We live among things of relative permanence, yet our lives are in constant forward motion and are anything but permanent. I began exploring this idea by photographing houses from moving cars. That eventually and remarkably naturally morphed into photographing the earth and the marks we make on it from planes. I travel a lot for business and pleasure, so I began just shooting from commercial flights. I like aerial photography in part because it gives us a perspective on the world (and our place in it) that is at once very unusual and very familiar.
Caryn: What are you seeking to capture when you shoot open spaces from the sky?
Andrea: I’m interested in capturing the ways in which we try to control our world. Houses, for example, literally ground us to the earth and supposedly protect us from the chaos outside. All of the marks we make on the earth — buildings, crop circles, bridges and roads, etc — are on some level our way of proving our existence, of literally “making our mark” and defying the fact that at the end of the day, we don’t have control and we ourselves are not permanent. By documenting a place in time, by making a photograph, I become part of the attempt to hold on to things that can’t be kept, to stop time, to stay still. I gravitate toward relatively empty, open and even generic spaces, as opposed to congested, urban spaces. There is a quietness in these open spaces that I think invites contemplation. Seeing a lone farmhouse from the sky, one wonders what lives have been lived and lost in that singular place over time.
Caryn: In an aerial composition, what artistic elements do you look for?
Andrea: I try to keep an open mind when looking out the window. But I do find the geometry that we inflict on the earth to be particularly fascinating. To me it symbolizes the order we need in our lives to feel in control. I’m not looking for a very sharp level of detail. I actually prefer a softness to the images. We move through life seeing things–and remembering things–as a bit of a blur, not in perfect focus, so I want the images to reflect that. The result is also that the images look somewhat like paintings, which adds a whole other dimension to the work.
Caryn: What is your favorite aerial shot and why?
Andrea: This is a tough question. I find it hard to commit to just one, but if I had to choose I would say that “Untitled (2 barns & space)” might be my favorite. In its minimalism and simplicity I think it conveys very clearly the sense of melancholy and reverence for beauty that is at the heart of my work.
Check out Andrea’s website at www.andreasanders.net. Her digital photographic images can also be seen and purchased at Hirshleifers as well as at Americana Manhasset’s Concierge.
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