Martin Parr was born in 1952 in England. He is a British documentary photographer known for critically examining modern society through projects on consumerism, travel, and family relationships using color photography and macro lenses. Parr cites his grandfather as an early influence and studied photography in college. He began his career in the 1970s and is now a member of Magnum Photos, known for critiquing British culture and society in a humorous yet exaggerated style through his unique perspective.

1. Martin
Parr
Martin Parr was born 23rd May 1952, in Epsom, Surrey. He is a British documentary
Photographer, photojournalist and collector. He is known for his photographic projects
that take a critical look at modern society, such as consumerism, foreign travel and
tourism, motoring, family relationships and food. Parr uses Macro lenses, ring flash,
high saturation colour film and digital photography, which allow him to photograph his
subjects “under the microscope”, where they are in their own environment, giving them
space to expose their lives and values in ways that end up having a humorous nature
to them.
“If you photograph
for a long time, you
get to understand
things such as body
language. Also, when
I want a photograph, I
become somewhat
fearless and this
helps a lot”.

2. Parr’s Background
Parr wanted to become a photographer from the age of 14
and cites his Grandfather, an amateur photographer, as an
early influence. From 1970 to 1973, Parr studied
photography at the Manchester Polytechnic.
Parr began work as a professional photographer and
began teaching photography in the mid 70’S. he was first
recognized for his black and white photography in the
North of England, Bad Weather (1982) and A Fair Day
(1984), but switched to colour photography in 1984. The
resulting work, Last Resort: Photographs of New
Brighton, was published in 1986. Since 1994 Parr has
been a member of Magnum Photos.
Besides being a photographer, Parr is a keen collector of
postcards. Parr’s fascination of the garish and vivid
postcards produced between the 1950’s and 1970’s by
John Hinde, has been the key inspiration for Parr’s digital
colour photography. Since, Parr has published several
photo books and his work has been displayed at many
different locations around the globe, such as exhibitions in
London, Zurich, Spain and China.

3. Parr’s work
Martin Parr’s photographs offer us the opportunity to see the world through his
unique perspective. At a first glance, his work appears exaggerated, where
there are unusual perspectives and overly garish colours. His photographs
contain a humorous element, as they enable us to laugh at ourselves, by his
documentation of British culture, the way we live and our cultures society. This
also allows us to relate ourselves to his work.
Leisure, consumption and communication are the main topics which Parr
has documented during his worldwide travels, focusing on society and the
lives of people of both high and low social class.

4. Imagery
This is a photograph where
I feel Parr demonstrates
the almost “grotesque”
humor within our cultures
society. This hectic scene,
with people shoving to the
front of the table, enable us
to laugh, as we can relate
to this image, as it almost
reminds us of ourselves,
which was one of Parr’s
main aspirations to achieve
through his photography.

5. Bibliography
Books used:
“Martin Parr” by Val Williams (2004)
“Think Of England by Martin Parr (1999)
Websites used:
www.martinparr.com
www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/…/parr.htm
www.wikipedia.org
www.lensculture.com/parr.html
www.magnumphotos.com