Photographer Research - Martin Parr

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a documentary photographer and photojournalist, based in Britain. Mainly, Parr is known for his obscure images of modern day life, such as sunburnt people on a beach. He has also documented the social classes of England through his photography. Parr captures everyday life throughout his images, including old social norms and new ones such as taking photos with a selfie-stick. Therefore, Parr is both an old and modern photographer, because of the fast changing society. Parr's main style of photography is using a macro lens and creating saturated colour either by using a particular type of film or a ring flash. This is so he is able to zoom in onto people in their own environment, and the use of the macro lens allows Parr to capture their natural mannerisms. Parr uses this technique to create humorous images, but also to capture the reality of modern day life. Parr also uses editing to add humor to his images, such as transferring self-portraits into odd places or with extraordinary, and unusual backgrounds. 

I chose to write about this image because of how modern it actually is. In this photo, Parr has captured three people taking a 'selfie' using a phone on a 'selfie-stick’ that is the new norm of the world. I really enjoy looking at this photo because it is humorous to see people doing this in public, let alone captured within an image. Although we focus on the three people within the shot of the 'selfie', we can also see other people in the background taking photographs, as well as a beautiful building with an angel statue in the background. I also like the prospect of capturing a photo within another photo. This photo is so modern which makes the viewers smile because it is relatable, and I think Parr really captures everyday life to the fullest, because he captures the good and the bad, which makes his photographs so funny, such as sunburn, using a selfie stick, or everybody using their camera phones. 

This is a very similar photo, but this is inside a building (maybe a museum). In this image, we can see at least 4 people taking photographs of the ceiling/wall. Each of these people are standing straight and looking up at their cameras/phones. I also like that the guy in the foreground is in focus, whereas the people in the background are slightly blurred. Again, this image portrays modern day life, in the instance that all people care about these days is capturing the moment with photographs, rather than being in the moment. I enjoy Parr's work because he captures the true nature of society, without the people within the images realizing they’re being photographed - making his images incredibly realistic and natural. 

This is one of the beach images that Parr has captured. Within this image, we can see a lot of bright colour - following on to the fact that Parr likes to over saturate the colours within his photographs. Also, the beach is incredibly busy. We can't actually see anybody's faces, it is just figures all over the place. I like the brightness of the colours in this image because it captures the feel of a holiday of the weather being bright, hot and sunny as well as everybody feeling extremely relaxed and happy. I also like that Parr ha managed to fit so many different people within this shot. I chose this photo in particular because within some of my shoots of 'places', I have captured a lot of busy streets, beaches etc. Which relate and have been influenced by this image, along with others by Parr. I like that his images reflect the emotion of the day they were shot, as well as the weather on the day, which is what I would also like to portray within my own photography as it is almost like portraying that particular places 'identity', which is how I am going to relate these type of landscape/street photography shots within my project of identity. 

This is another photo whereby people are using their phones. In this image, the background is blurred but we can see that it is the painted portrait of Mona Lisa. However, we can see this more clearly through the 3 people's phones in the audience taking photos of the painting. I like this image because the main focus is the hands holding up phones and cameras. I also like that even though the main focus is meant to be the painting, within Parr's photography, it is actually the use of the phones by the audience. I also like this image because we cannot see anybody's face, as Parr has shot this from the back of an audience, who are there to see the painting, and therefore do not realize Parr is shooting photographs of them. 

Like Beat Streuli does, Martin Parr also captures images of people using their phones, to show the modern day and age which literally lives on the Internet. Here, I have captured two people on their phones sitting at a dinner table - which will be seen as rude for an older generation, but as part of the new generation this is the norm. Modern day is literally controlled by the Internet and social media, and I like photos that capture that in action. Like Beat Streuli and Martin Parr have done so as well. 

Although not featured in this post, Martin Parr is mostly famous for his beach photographs of 'British people on holiday" and this photo, amongst a lot of other photos I have shot, have been inspired by that particular shoot. Here, I have captured a family playing and swimming in the sea, but in a rather small, isolated area between two cliffs. I like this image because of the depth, which is shown through the gradient in colour in the sea, as well as the cliffs narrowing towards each other either side. I also like the honesty of the photo, as it is natural and is just showing a family enjoying their holiday in the sea.  

In summary, I chose to study Martin Parr because of his professional photography style, whereby his is able to capture modern-day life within his photographs, such as the use of phones. I like the idea of photographing strangers because they do not know photos are being taken of them - which makes the images more natural and realistic. I also like that Parr doesn't plan the images, he just captures photos of the public as they live their normal, every day lives, and hopes to capture something interesting. Also, Parr's use of saturated colour is influential because it has made me realize that I not only need to focus on what I'm taking photographs of, but also how I am going to edit and then present them. Parr is incredibly influential for my first few shoots, whereby I will be taking photographs of public places and the tourist attractions within those places, such as Big Ben and the London Eye in London, as well as swimming pools and people sunbathing on holiday.