See No Evil – Bristol 2011

I’m from Bristol.
I went to school in Lockleaze, scored 48 goals in one season for Bristol Boys and worked Saturdays in my dad’s shop on Stapleton Road.
Starting out I took photos for local what’s on guide Venue and got to check out crews like The Wild Bunch
some of whom would go on to form Massive Attack and Smith & Mighty who I went to school with.
At my mum’s house I had backdrops of original graffiti art by Delge aka 3D aka Robert Del Naja that would have been worth a bit – had I hung onto them.
Time, travel, fate and consequence have all moved us on from our birthplace and I haven’t been back in nearly a decade but this video reminds me that you can take the boy out of Bristol but you’ll never take Bristol out of the boy….
Special thanks and respect to Miles Johnson aka DJ Milo for sending me this link

The Somnambulists by Richard Jobson

In a world dictated to and dominated by the selling of product it’s empowering to see ‘The Somnabulists’ a self financed film directed by Richard Jobson.
Enraged by our general apathy towards the war in Iraq the film is a dramatization of events inspired by the testimonies of British servicemen and women who were directly involved in the conflict in Basra.
Challenging and thought provoking it gives voice and life back to those that have lost theirs in the hope that we will waken from our slumbered acceptance of the untold damage and consequence of war.
Numbed by media saturated images and increasingly shocking content this film is simple, stark and bold in the message it conveys. As each ‘soldier’ talks about their experiences the camera glides into the lives that might have been and the people they left behind to paint a visual and emotional picture that remains with you long after the final harrowing scene.
As Jobson says ‘Like many people I was angered by the Iraq war and like most people did nothing about it. This is my response to that apathy. In the film although it appears that the speakers are the ghostly presence it is, in fact, we the audience who are the Somnambulists. It is us who were sleep walking in the build up to the war and its tragic aftermath.’

Meeting up with Richard Jobson I’ve been privileged to preview this film several times and I urge you all to go to
The World Premiere of THE SOMNAMBULISTS on Friday 14 October with additional screenings on Saturday 15 and Monday 17 October at the 55th BFI London Film Festival 2011

The Somnambulists ‘Trailer’ from Steven Sander on Vimeo.

kalectiv – directors showreel

directing and producing short form projects, commercials, shorts, trailers, idents, virals and pop promos
Kalectiv have built an affiliation of visual artists capable of fulfilling any brief with freshness and originality.
Does it tell the story? Does it entertain? This is our Mantra.
If the medium is the message, then the word on the street is that we need a new kind of ‘hybrid’ film-maker….
someone with the skills of both director and stills photographer.

For me being part of such a Kalectiv crew of creativity is a real honour and seeing my work stand up with the blonde android in BladeRunner (aka Rutger Hauer from the Guinness Ads) just gives me goosebumps!!!!
Thanks again and huge respect to all.

Early Work by John Hicks

I’m rubbish at archiving my own work.
The minute I’ve got the shot in camera I’ve lost interest in it and I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve left a trail of negatives and archive prints to their own fate – many lost along the way.
I came across these images of some of my early work just recently.
It’s frightening to see the pure and instinctive photographer I started out as become diluted by the business and the advice of so many people I really shouldn’t have listened to.
I didn’t have a clue technically but I spend my life now trying to get back to that place where I first started out – fresh, true, orignal and free