Eric Sander

Eric Sander was born in Fort de l’Eau, near Algiers. He is the eldest son of a family of five. His father, originally from Lille, was in the military and rose to general in the Air Force, as his mother, from Belgium, was a caring housewife, raising her children. He received a strict formal education typical of the period but his mother’s temperament would nurture his huge need for gentleness and sensitivity. “She used to tell me: “Look into nature, look at the pretty flowers” and I learned to take joy in contemplating them.” His family would get back to France when he just turned 6 and he would grow up in Bougival, on rue Claude Monet. The name of this street, named after the famous impressionist painter was a consolation for the romantic young boy who was following the adventures of Zorro, Robin Hood and Thierry la Fronde on television. “I admired these heroes, being somehow positive rebels, acting in the shadows, with courage and altruism to do good for others.”

At school, Eric was a rather timid child, standing aside, but very curious and observant. “I was solitary, but in solidarity with my classmates”, and he won many awards and prizes, but only in subjects that interested him: drawing, manual work, gymnastics and geography. “I remember being always nostalgic, drawing constantly, I’d draw villages as if I was looking for my own.” He found his village at 17 while supervising a group of young people in the beautiful Dordogne area, and it was there that he would take his first steps in photography.

Graduating with A-levels in science, the young man would soon switch to architecture, but he got bored quickly and quit two years later. “I wanted to leave everything for my military service, and stand back to determine my unique gifts and call. There, in Djibouti, everything has changed!” The base commander would take him under his protection as a Commando Fusilier (Commando Rifleman), and under his command, Eric would experience incredible moments like flying in a fighter plane, helicopter, transport plane and scuba diving. He even spent a week as an observer with the Foreign Legion. “I had taken my mother’s camera, a FOCA model at the time, and I enjoyed photographing everyone and snapping some memories of these adventures.” The Legionaries were overcome by his innate talent for capturing memorable moments with style and excellence, so much so that they arranged through him many pictures, slides at the time. Once back in France, Eric was a different person. “A -year of life gained and not lost!” He was craving to uncover, explore and share new human encounters, opening up new horizons. Yes, no doubt, his career would not take place in the framework of a typical office life.

“Life is made out of encounters!” Two months before leaving for military service, Éric befriended the editor of the Gamma agency, Floris de Bonneville. “He had great sensitivity while being essentially a journalist, whereas I was rather good in visual art. I corresponded with him quite regularly and when I returned in 1977, he offered me a job as his assistant.” And thus, Eric would publish photos for the next 6 years of over 4,000 subjects from the images of renowned photographers such as Raymond Depardon, Sebastião Salgado and great reporters of the time. “The reports arrived undeveloped to the agency: hundreds of images on average, and each time, I had to edit a topic and keeping only one picture out of ten.” This work would sharpen his eyes and teach him how to tell a story with pictures. Very quickly, he wanted to create for himself. His first report would be the celebration of his grandparents’ diamond wedding at Bellinglise Castle. “I retrieved old photos and had them re- pose as they once did on their wedding day; then took photos with their 16 children, their 66 grandchildren and even with their sleeping great-grandchildren. We were 170 people all together.” The story would be a success and garnered interest from many magazines, like France Soir Magazine, which offered a six-page spread and other famous magazines in 15 countries. Parisians who lived in barges on the Seine river would be his next topic and again, he would be rewarded with another six-page spread in Figaro Magazine. “I was not the top of the news but that did not bother me at all. I was looking for background topics, positive stories, with real encounters that give us deeper insight into life and help each other grow.” Encouraged by these two successful outcomes, Eric Sander would resign and start his own business as an independent photojournalist and photographer.

“One of the stories that marked me is my encounter with this 91-year-old Italian gentleman who was a copyist at the Louvre. Since 1928, he had been going every day in three-piece suit, with his soft hat and bamboo stick hanging on his easel, and he had already copied the Mona Lisa more than 200 times. We became good friends and to celebrate our last day together, I took him to Clos Lucé for lunch, with the extra privilege of visiting Leonardo da Vinci’s room. There, I saw him cry tears of joy!” This is what Eric Sander wanted to do. Find and propose consistent topics where the public could get to know people who spent a large share of their lives working behind the scenes or he wanted to highlight different aspects of famous people and even eccentric ones, those who had a different life that was out of the ordinary, and who followed their passion to the end.