David Sanderson was an Autralian cinematoprapher born in Narrabri, New South Wales. Moving to Sydney in 1966, he became a camera assistant at ABC television. Two years later, he joined the Commonwealth Film Unit (now Film Australia). In the 1970s, he studied cinematography at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He married American actor Hilary Bean. In 1980, he received an Emmy Award for cinematography in an episode of the children's television series, Once upon a Midnight Scary.

Filmography