Behold, Respond, Inspire – a photography project for Bristol

Would you be interested in taking part in a unique arts project as part of the redevelopment of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI)? This is your chance to send us your photographs that reflect the culture and identity of your local community and the surrounding area. 

Award-winning photographer Simon Roberts has been commissioned by University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust to create a series of artworks inspired by Bristol and the South West region as part of an arts programme for the redevelopment of the BRI The artwork is being funded by Above & Beyond and managed by arts consultancy Willis Newson.

 Simon is giving you the chance to get involved in the commission by submitting your own photographs that reflect the people and the character of Bristol and the South West region. Submitted photographs will be displayed in an online gallery and may also be incorporated in the final artworks, which will be displayed in the emergency department (A&E) and new adult wards in the Bristol Royal Infirmary in 2014.  Full details of this project can be found here

 

 

More from the archives – Norman Parkinson – in pictures

Again from the Guardian, do they not understand the meaning of news?

“An exhibition opens this weekend of original vintage prints by Norman Parkinson, who revolutionised fashion photography in the 1950s and 60s. The photographs, owned by Parkinson’s former assistant, Angela Williams, will be on show at the M Shed in Bristol from 21 January to 15 April. Many of the 60 prints are previously unseen”…..MORE

The M Shed in Bristol is a large museum of the life of Bristol which also show other exhibitions, a fascinating visit and now you can get to see some of Norman Parkinson’s pictures

all images ©Norman Parkinson

David Constantine Photography Exhibition – Bristol 13-28 August 2011

David is one of my oldest and best friends, I met him when he joined The Photographers Workshop in the early 1980’s. We taught each other about so many things, he was my first web master and computer guru I showed him how to develop and print. His work has always been an inspiration photographing in more countries than even the most seasoned travelers. If you can’t make it to his exhibition then have a look at his website here

For the first time in over ten years Bristol
based street photographer David Constantine
is exhibiting his stunning collection of portraits
at the View Art Gallery in Bristol.
Open Mon-Sat 11am-6pm; Sun 12pm-5pm
The exhibition is open on 13th – 28th
August 2011.
19th August at 7pm – Come to an evening
where David Constantine speaks about his
photography and experiences. All welcome.

“If I think back I feel I have always ‘seen’ images. Having the ability to capture them in the way I wish to see them has always been the challenge. I am particularly enthused by light and the sun. If I am in a room, I have a overwhelming urge to always move and place myself near or into the natural light, particularly sunlight.

During my teens when I started to photograph more seriously I was finding my way to the type of images in this book. However on this journey I did try as many photographic forms as possible, dabbling in sports, surf, landscape, music and people.

However, my focus was brought into sharp detail when, following my injury in 1982, aged 21, I was left paralysed from the shoulders down and unable to grip or pick up my camera. I decided to give up photography as just another one of those things I was going to have to accept in my new life as a quadriplegic wheelchair user. What I hadn’t counted on was that I couldn’t just give up what I saw that easily.

With help from a number of key people, in particular Ian Dickens, Head of PR at Olympus Cameras and photographer Keith Barnes, I was able to start taking pictures again just over a year following my injury.

It wasn’t until I moved to a medium format camera and started to travel that I found my real challenge. That challenge is to photograph people in their own environment in a relaxed setting and at their ease. I am not quick, I cannot run after my subjects and I certainly can’t blend into the background as Henri Cartier-Bresson mastered so skilfully. However I can present myself to my subjects who are generally as intrigued by me, as I am by them. A foreigner in a wheelchair with a camera is not something one sees everyday, if ever in many of the countries I have had the privilege to travel to.

I am inspired by the way people live and in many countries I go to, how their faces tell many stories, often of hard work and struggle to survive in a way that we, living in more privileged circumstances, often take for granted. The recent history of a place or country always fascinates me and I try to photograph people who would have lived through or even possibly will live through times of great change in their country.

The images on this site have been taken over the last 20 years, often in moments squeezed into or around my working day. Luckily for good light, one has to rise early. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I have enjoyed taking them.”

David Constantine
July 2011