I’m Richard Sandler and am a recent transplant to Vancouver from New York City. I’ll photograph anything but I am primarily a (film) street photographer and a documentary film and video maker. I look forward to making work in both disciplines on the streets of Vancouver.

What one piece of advice would you give street photographers just starting out?

My advise to photographers starting out is to read Charlie Harbutt’s afterword titled, “I Don’t Take Pictures, Pictures Take Me,” to his 1973 (MIT Press) book, “Travelog.” Charlie describes a shift toward a surreal, intuitive approach that embraces serendipity over traditional photojournalism. Photographers act as passive receivers of images, finding meaning in the tension between what lies inside and outside the frame, which he calls “superbanalisms”—capturing the mundane, or “banal,” to uncover surreal, psychological depth.

What are your top two places in Vancouver for shooting and why?

Two places I like to shoot in Vancouver are Granville & Georgia, and the Downtown Eastside.

Which three street photographers have influenced your work the most?

Street influences are Garry Winogrand, Eugene Richards, Alex Webb, Jules Allen, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thomas Roma, André Kertesz, Charlie Harbutt, William Klein, Robert Frank and Bill Brandt.

Describe your work using up to four keywords

• Intimate

• Complex

• Perspicacious

Tell us about (up to 5) books, music or other art forms that influence your photography.

• Charlie Harbutt’s book, “Travelog,”

• Robert Frank’s, “The Americans”

• The films of Arthur Lipsett

• The books and films of William Klein

• The music of Sam Rivers

• The music of John Coltrane (early, middle and late).