With a Conscious Eye

Our great friend David Constantine is taking part in an exhibition with Nick Danziger and Justin Partyka called With A Conscious Eye.

Over the course of his distinguished career, award-winning photographer Nick Danziger has travelled the globe documenting people in unusual or challenging circumstances, from conflict zones to political crises and impoverished inner city communities. His work in the current exhibition captures Hindu pilgrims in the throes of India’s greatest sacred rite, Maha Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering in human history.

Paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair since the age of 21, David Constantine has a unique physical and emotional perspective from which he photographs people in developing countries and communities striving to recover from conflict. His work expresses a dignified humanism; rather than seeking out photographs that are conventionally dramatic, he documents people and places in a direct yet gentle manner, resulting in images that are quietly compelling.

Closer to home, Justin Partyka presents a series of photographs that depict the lives of “the forgotten people of the flatlands” – the remnants of the agrarian community of East Anglia, who live on the margins of modern society in one of the country’s most rural and agricultural regions. His timeless images are the result of many years spent in the farmlands of the area, patiently watching how man and landscape intimately shape each other, offering a glimpse into a disappearing way of life

The exhibition is held between the 4th and 21st December at Osbourne and Samuel   23a BRUTON STREET LONDON  W1J 6QG TELEPHONE +44 (0)20 7493 7939

Here is a bit about David from the press release and some of his pictures

David Constantine studied at the Royal College of Art, London and was a keen photographer from an early age, but in 1982, aged 21, a diving accident left him paralysed from the shoulders down, unable to grip or pick up a camera. However, with help from a number of people, in particular Ian Dickens, Head of PR at Olympus Cameras and photographer Keith Barnes, he was able to start taking pictures again just over a year after the injury. Over the last 20 years, Constantine’s work has taken him to many different corners of the world, photographing subjects who are often living in hard, struggling environments. The sense of history in a place is very important to him and he tries to capture people who have lived through or are living through times of great change in their country. In 1991 he established the charity, Motivation, which provides high-quality, low-cost wheelchairs to disabled people in developing countries.  

Pictures of the Week: February 22, 2013

From the Denver Post some startling images

Black poplars are pictured at Fuente Vaqueros, near Granada on February 17, 2013. AFP PHOTO/ CRISTINA QUICLER #

In this photo provided by Chelyabinsk.ru a meteorite contrail is seen over Chelyabinsk on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. (AP Photo/Chelyabinsk.ru) #

An Indian Hindu vendor stands alongside offerings for sale as he waits for customers near the Sangam or confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and mythical Saraswati rivers at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad on February 17, 2013. The Kumbh Mela in the town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers gather over 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings. AFP PHOTO/ Andrew Caballero-Reynolds #

Children walk on the Askia mausoleum, built in 1495 in Gao, northern Mali, Friday Feb. 15, 2013, one week after a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed himself attempting to blow up an army checkpoint at the entrance of the town. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) #

Sona Nakarmi, 7, writes on a wall at the Saraswati temple during the Shreepanchami festival in Kathmandu February 15, 2013. Children are given their first writing and reading lessons at the temple during this festival in the belief that the goddess of education Saraswati will help them excel in education. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar #

“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius awaits the start of court proceedings in the Pretoria Magistrates court February 19, 2013. Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was applying for bail after being charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend, 30-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria house. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko #

A Malian soldier looks on during fighting with Islamists in Gao, February 21, 2013. French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces. REUTERS/Joe Penney #

See the rest of these pictures of the week here

Pictures of the Week: February 1, 2013

The always excellent Denver Post brings another selection of images from the week. I try to show a mix of the hopeful, happy and tragic, this week’s offering is mostly the latter, sign of the times?

A woman sits prayerfully while her head is shaved to mourn the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk ahead of his funeral, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The body of Sihanouk who died on Oct. 15, 2012 at age 89, is scheduled to be cremated on Feb. 4, 2013.

Girls cry in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The repercussions of a tragic nightclub fire in southern Brazil widened Tuesday as mayors around the country cracked down on such venues in their own cities and investigators searched two other nightspots owned by a partner in the club that caught ablaze. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors.

Pictures of the Week is a Denver Post Plog that gathers the strongest photojournalism from around the world.

A young newly initiated ‘Naga Sadhu’ sits after performing evening rituals at the Akhara camp during the Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad on January 29, 2013. During every Kumbh Mela, the diksha – ritual of initiation by a guru – program for new members takes place. AFP PHOTO/ Sanjay KANOJIA #

An Egyptian protester evacuates an injured boy during clashes near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Two years after Egypt’s revolution began, the country’s schism was on display Friday as the mainly liberal and secular opposition held rallies saying the goals of the pro-democracy uprising have not been met and denouncing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) #

Roger Barnes rescues a friend’s surfboard from a flooded home in the inner Brisbane suburb of Newmarket on January 28, 2013 as high winds and heavy rains brought by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald have hit the state of Queensland. Helicopters plucked dozens of stranded Australians to safety in dramatic rooftop rescues on January 28 as severe floods swept the northeast, killing three people and inundating thousands of homes. AFP PHOTO / Patrick HAMILTON #

Matt Gone poses before the opening of the Expotattoo Venezuela 2013 in Caracas, on January 24, 2013. The event will be held in Caracas five more days. AFP PHOTO/JUAN BARRETO #

An Afghan girl looks out of her window near an open classroom on the outskirts of Jalalabad on January 30, 2013. Afghanistan has had only rare moments of peace over the past 30 years, its education system being undermined by the Soviet invasion of 1979, a civil war in the 1990s and five years of Taliban rule. AFP PHOTO/ Noorullah Shirzada #

See the full gallery here