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Andrew Sanderson
Andrew is a photographer and tutor with over 40 years’ experience, and an Ilford Photo Master Printer. He is a leading proponent not only of film and the darkroom, but of the single image, and – of course – the importance of the print. He is the author of three books: Night Photography: A Practical Manual; Home Photography: Inspiration on Your Doorstep; and Hand Colouring and Alternative Darkroom Processes. He has also self-published a small book on the technique of paper negative photography, available from Blurb. You can also follow him on Instagram
In 1978, I started at an art college in Yorkshire. After one year of foundation, I chose photography, knowing already that this was going to be my life’s passion.
With my fellow photography students, we as second years were in a kind of common room/studio space with the third years, and once there, I immediately met and became best friends with Porl Medlock. Porl was younger than me, but in the year above because he started there after school, whereas I had worked for a few years.
Porl’s photography was a big influence on me from the start; he showed me how to appreciate good printing and told me about great photographers of the past, such as Bill Brandt, Edward Steichen, and Edward Weston. He also showed me photographers who were doing interesting work at the time; Sarah Moon, Bob Carlos Clarke, and Raymond Moore. We stayed in touch after college finished and have seen each other regularly for about 45 years. Porl does a lot of landscape photography, though he does other stuff too, like portraiture and press work. He mainly shoots 35mm, though he has been shooting 5x4 and 5x7 for the last few years. This picture is quite typical of him, but also has echoes of Cartier Bresson, not that he copies that style; this one just reminds me of CB’s work because of the running boy.