Obscura Gallery presents a photographic exhibition by acclaimed British cinematographer Roger Deakins, reflecfting a life spent looking and telling stories through images from 1971 to the present, featuring work from his recent publication Byways (published by Damiani Books in 2021 and now in its 7th edition). Although a highly acclaimed cinematographer, Deakins has also cultivated a passion for still photography, producing compelling portraits and landscapes from visually striking locations throughout the world.  This range of still photography includes notable images of our home state of New Mexico, as well as the seaside of Deakins’ native England, and cinematic views from New Zealand, Australia, and Scotland.  Roger Deakins has earned an extraordinary reputation for his diverse and expansive body of cinema work, spanning more than five decades. He has been nominated for 16 Academy Awards, winning twice for Bladerunner 2049 and 1917. His other well-known nominated Academy Award films include Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Shawshank Redemption, True Grit, and so many more.
Obscura Gallery, Collected Works Bookstore, and Violet Crown proudly announce a collaborative offering of engaging events to pay tribute to the esteemed cinematographer and photographer Roger Deakins. These special events, which took place on Thursday, March 14, and Friday, March 15, aimed to honor Deakins' remarkable contributions to the art of cinema and photography.
Included in the Obscura Gallery exhibition are a selection of images from the monograph Byways, now in its seventh reprint, which includes over 150 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs spanning five decades, from 1971 to the present. After graduating from college Deakins spent a year photographing life in rural North Devon, in South West England, on a commission for the Beaford Arts Centre; these images are gathered here for the first time and attest to a keenly ironic English sensibility, also documenting a vanished postwar Britain. A second suite of images expresses Deakins’ love of the seaside. Traveling for his cinematic work has allowed Deakins to photograph landscapes all over the world; in this third group of images, that same irony remains evident. There are several images in the exhibition taken in our home-state of New Mexico with the same character and signature style of which Deakins is revered.
Roger A. Deakins was born and raised in Devon. He studied Graphic Design at the Bath College of Art and before continuing on to the National Film School, he spent time shooting still photographs for North Devon, with the intent of capturing the disappearing rural farm life. Here he developed his love of still photography. After graduating from the National Film School, he shot a number of documentaries and then moved into feature films.
Roger has been nominated 16 times for an Academy Award and won twice for the movies BLADERUNNER 2049 and 1917. He has also been nominated 17 times for the top award of the American Society of Cinematographers, 11 times for the BAFTA  award and 12 times for the British Society of Cinematographers. He has been awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the British Society of Cinematographers and the National Board of Review. He is also the only cinematographer to have been awarded the honor of CBE in 2013 as well as receiving the honor of knighthood in 2021. Roger also enjoys being a visual consultant on certain animated films. He has consulted on  WALL•E, RANGO, all of the HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON films and VIVO, to name a few. In 2021, in addition to publishing Byways, he and his long-time collaborator James Ellis Deakins created an immensely successful podcast, Team Deakins, on the subject of filmmaking.
Representing all things photography through exhibitions, consignments and appraisals!
It’s an exciting year ahead as we begin 2024 at our new east side Canyon Road area location on Delgado Street with a January 27 open house from 1-5pm.
Hours of operation are Tuesday - Saturday 11-5pm. We are also open by appointment. Please call us to schedule a visit at 505-577-6708.
WE HAVE PARKING! Parking is available in the big lot right across the street from the gallery or on the street!
Following Danny Lyon’s extensive retrospective New Mexico exhibition 'Journey West' at the Albuquerque Museum this Summer, Obscura Gallery is thrilled to present 'Danny Lyon: Prints and Photographs 1963 – 2023', featuring the seminal documentary photographer’s 60-year career of exploring people, places, and land through photographs and montages. Also included will be a selection of new works that capture New Mexico’s diverse landscapes, seeking to raise awareness of fires, drought, and climate change. Other featured works span Lyon’s career photographing the Civil Rights Movement, the Texas Prison System, the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club, and more. The latter culminated in his seminal book, 'The Bikeriders', a landmark of modern photojournalism that collected interviews and photographs, documenting the abandon and risk implied in the name of the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. A feature-length film by Jeff Nichols, 'The Bikeriders', is based on Lyon’s book of the same name and will be released soon.
Please join us Friday, September 15 from 5-7pm for the artist reception of Two Generations: Paul Caponigro and John Paul Caponigro, a father-and-son exhibition including over two dozen photographs highlighting the careers of this family of artists. John Paul will give an informal chat at 4pm before the reception begins.
For both artists, Santa Fe was home for over twenty years (1970 - 1990s) while Paul lived here raising John Paul in a community of artists. Now, decades later, their work will be shown together in this joint exhibition at Obscura Gallery. Responding to interest in seeing the work of father and son together, the show “Two Generations†was originally assembled from the personal collection of John Paul and first exhibited more than three decades ago – it has traveled and evolved ever since and we are thrilled to have curated our own version at Obscura Gallery.
While at first glance both artists seem a world apart -- Paul’s work in black and white gelatin silver and John Paul’s work in vivid color by use of digital means -- their work is unified by the same spiritual thread that runs through their landscape photography. They both revere the land they photograph and try to convey their responses to the land they love. They are both successful photographic interpreters of the majesty that our Earth offers us.
