Martin Parr was born in Epsom,Surrey and decided at the young age of 14 that he wanted to become a documentary photographer. He was mainly influenced by his grandfather George Parr who, at the time was an amateur photographer himself. Geroge used to lend Martin a camera and they would go out together and shoot, then they would come back, process the films and make prints encouraging Martin to become a photographer. Before studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic between 1970 and 1973 he had only seen the work of Bill Brandt and Cartier Bresson as well as copies of Creative Camera magazine,however after his tutor showed him the work of Tony Ray Jones he was completely inspired. During college - he got fed up with learning basic studio techniques and the idea of becoming an assistant, so began creating his own projects and working on them this lead to him having to fight for his working giving him good practice on fighting for what he believed in, and gave him the passion to continue. After completing college, he first worked at for Manchester council for community relations and then began working towards his “Home Sweet Home” exhibition for a gallery in York - at the same time whilst trying to support his freelance photographer career, he took on various teaching assignments before marrying his wife Susan Mitchell in 1980, having a child named Ellen in 1986 and then residing in Bristol - where he still currently lives with his family.
Street Photography Techniques:
- Focus on sets, not individuals
- Make statements about society through your photography
- Be obsessive
- Think outside the box
- It is rare that you take a good photo
- Find the extraordinary in the ordinary
- Get close
- Exaggerate your photos
- Dont get people to smile
- Experiment
Influences:
Parr was influenced by three main people in his work.
One person to influence Parr was Henri Cartier-Bresson, despite differences between their work, Bressons’ use of saturated colour against Parrs refined monochrome, and capturing a a dull moment in time, versus capturing a decisive moment - however, what they do have in common is that fact that both of them liked taking photographs in England because its occupants played out social roles with a lot of emphasis. HOwever, they encountered a spat when Bresson attended Parr’s exhibition and exclaimed that he was from a completely different planet than him.”
The major photographer that influenced Parr was Tony Ray-Jones, he found that he recognised Jones’ unique ability to document English customs and identity. Ray Jones’ also attracted the eye of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London but died a few years later at the age of 30. However, he influenced Parr enough for hi to base a project directly on inspired by him just two years later - the “non-Conformists” which exhibited the non-conformist chapels in rural Yorkshire. The work from this exhibition, alongside the work from Jones’ archive shows clear parallels between the project and the photographs that inspired it. All of the images are in black and white, involving people who are being captured showing little interest in the camera itself. Parr describes Jones’ work as “had that contrast, that seedy eccentricity. but they showed it in a very subtle way, they have an ambiguity, a visual anarchy. They showed me what was possible”.
Books:
One of his books was named "Bad Weather" and it was a look at how British people carried on with their daily lives despite unfavourable weather conditions. Parr saw the weather was and will always be a "national obsession" for people in Britain and for some shots he used an underwater camera and a flashgun.
More examples of his work are in the books "Calberdale Photographs", "Photographs from the West of Ireland" and "Prescot: now and then".
His first colour publication was named "The Last Resort" and released in 1986. It was arguably Parr's best work and it what established his name in Europe. The book was labelled as "A stunning satire of Britain" vs "Cruel and Voyeuristic".
"The cost of living" was released in 1989 and shows photos of Britain after 10 years of Thatcherism, under the rule of Margaret Thatcher. Parr photographed what he called the "comfortable class" or the "new middle class" and again he uses satire to help convey his message.
Another of his books was called "Signs of the Times" and it involved 2000 homeowners volunteering their British . Only 50 homes were chosen and it was more a documentary style of photography showing a wide variety of decors, some of good taste and some of emotion.
One of the more adventurous things that Parr did was called "Boring Postcards" which involved basic images of random objects that were mean't to convey various emotions and be a combination of:
- boring
- strange
- funny
- nostalgic
- compelling
- documentary
- insightful
Finally, his most recent work is "Acropolis Now" which is an online series, and shows a collection of water damaged prints from Parr's original 1991 shoot in Athens, Greece. The "Acropolis" of Athens is the ruins that Parr photographed and is a not particularly unusual, popular tourist attractions. The effect of the water damage creates a fiery, apocalyptic ambience and visual to the images.Overall, Parr's photography makes statements about society and his images are meaningful because of the messages they convey. Also, the opinions he expresses through his work challenge us to look at the world differently.
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