Martin Parr

Another day, another post, another photographer I have fallen in love with...

Martin Parr is a realist photographer who's photography captures people in their urban natural environment. 

I am surprised I even like his work because it isn't what I usually go for when it comes to fashion photography. But I love the the natural, almost unedited style to his work it looks so cool and edgy! Personally I would go as far as to say it looks vintage, as the set up and clothing reminds me of the 80's or early 90's. Which is never a bad thing- retro fashion is always a winner in my eyes.
It has a bit of an East End vibe to it.

Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer,photojournalist and photobook collector. He is best known for his photography images 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 (1975–82), The Last Resort (1983–85), The Cost of Living (1987–89), Small World (1987–94) and Common Sense (1995–99).

Since 1994, Parr has been a member of Magnum Photos. He has had around 40 solo photobooks published, and has featured in around 80 exhibitions worldwide – including the international touring exhibition ParrWorld, and a retrospective at the Barbican Arts Centre, London, in 2002. 

"The fundamental thing I'm exploring constantly is the difference between the mythology of the place and the reality of it. Remember I make serious photographs disguised as entertainment. That's part of my mantra. I make the pictures acceptable in order to find the audience but deep down there is actually a lot going on that's not sharply written in your face. If you want to read it you can read it."

Parr's aesthetic is close-up, through use of a macro lens, and employing saturated colour, a result of either the type of film and/or use of a ring flash. This allows him to put his subjects "under the microscope" in their own environment, giving them space to expose their lives and values in ways that often involve inadvertent humour. His technique, as seen in his book Signs of the Times: A Portrait of the Nation's Tastes (1992), has been said to leave viewers with ambiguous emotional reactions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"Parr's signature is his ability not only to isolate the most evocative of human details, but to elevate such visual fragments to that of the wider societal signpost or glyph."

This is one of my favourite images from his work, again I'm not sure what it is about it. I just love the simplicity of it, maybe it's because he's eating- a rare occurrence in photography. I like how it's not just him in the picture as well- the people in the background make it so much more natural and less forced. His style reminds me of like someone who's just taken their friend's photo whilst out. I don't know if it was intended but I love the contrast between old and youth in this image too, the elderly ladies in the background compliment the main model at the front, even though they are in the background your eyes are still drawn to them as well. It helps you to focus on the whole image rather than just one small part of it.

I love the colour contrast in this, it balances out the whole image. Even though this is just a body shot no head it still works really well- I could see this as being used as part of an editorial or as a series of photographs each focusing on different areas of the model.

What do you think of realist photographer's? 
Is Martin Parr your cup of tea photography wise?

Hope you all enjoyed this post, let me know what you thought in the comments below.

Take care & I'll see very soon.

X

Images are not my own, taken from Google.