Martin Parr
Martin Parr
Martin Parris a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world. His major projects have been rural communities, The Last Resort, The Cost of Living, Small Worldand Common Sense...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth25 May 1952
change people time type
Places change all the time, and the type of people who live there change.
brown shoot
You can't shoot in sepia, so converting into black and white and then into brown makes everything feel less real.
ability drown objects photograph
I would drown in objects if I didn't have the ability to photograph them.
color commercial obliged palette serious snapshot work
In the '70s, in Britain, if you were going to do serious photography, you were obliged to work in black-and-white. Color was the palette of commercial photography and snapshot photography.
became critique society work
My black-and-white work is more of a celebration, and the color work became more of a critique of society.
younger
I like to keep in touch with younger photographers. It's important that a younger generation comes up and questions the assumptions made by old farts like me.
best consume cookery fashion food looking looks people pictures travel
Fashion pictures show people looking glamorous. Travel pictures show a place looking at its best, nothing to do with the reality. In the cookery pages, the food always looks amazing, right? Most of the pictures we consume are propaganda.
ourselves saving
The ability for us to laugh at ourselves is Britain's saving grace.
exotic subject
Most of us, when we go out with a camera in our own country, try to find exotic subject matter to photograph.
passed
My father was an obsessive bird-watcher. The genes of observation passed down.
love platform privileged
I love curating, because I'm lucky and privileged that I have a platform and I can share my discoveries with other people.
alone galleries york
There are 65 to 70 photography galleries in New York alone. In the U.K., there are no more than five, and they're all in London.
fine good image says terms touch
When someone says to you, 'Oh, I don't take a good picture,' what they mean is they haven't come to terms with how they look. They take a fine picture, it's just that their image of how they think they look is not in touch with the reality.
filming
Filming is always a challenge because I'm not used to it. But I approach it head-on. I'm not technically brilliant, but it's the spirit that counts.