YouTube videos with and about

A great video to watch Martin Parr working.. he looks like he is using a Canon 5Dmk2/3 and 24-105f4 lens with a Flash that has a Garry Fong diffuser attached.

A short video of Martin Parr in Atlanta in Southern USA. Here is is using a mix of flash including a ring light on his camera. I think he uses the ring flash when he is anticipating that he will be working closer and the Garry Fong for when he is going to be working where he wants more even light across a room or scene.

You are probably going to fail, look at a lot of other photographers work and find your subject. It is a lot of hard work.

A long conversation at LCC in London.

Filmed by Martin Parr Think of England. made when he was doing some of his work that made him famous.

and finally a video on his acceptance into being a member of Magnum the Photographic Cooperative

What I learnt from.

The photograph you make is yours not the subjects they might be the person you are photographing but you are actually making your own photograph.

Don’t be afraid to chat with your subjects, engage with them to make your images.

Give back to other photographers, In 2017 Martin opened the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, where he primarily features the work of British documentary photographers.

Martin Parr has stated often that very early on he was influenced by Tony Ray-Jones, He went on to develop a very influential style of Photography that has shaped British Social Documentary photography since his books using colour came out, I have two of them. Both Martin Parr and Paul Graham helped to change how colour was seen in British social documentary photography. I also suspect that the rise of the colour supplements that every newspaper used to have every weekend was even more important. As these gave a venue for work that was seen regularly in our newspapers, prior to the advent of the internet. How we consume images and stories has changed and this has profoundly influenced how we as photographers work. We are no longer able to sustain ourselves on newspaper commissions alone, like we used to be able to and photographers like Martin Parr where able to move beyond the newspaper to the gallery wall, thereby being seen in more of an Art context than that of just as a newspaper photographer. This I think is important in how we perceive photographers like Martin Parr as he has successfully leveraged the art world to promote his photographic work and lift it into the art spotlight where photographic work gets talked about differently.

Don’t be afraid to be controversial, and don’t be afraid to go for what you want. Martin Parr aimed high wanting to be part of Magnum the worlds Permier Artist run social documentary and photojournalist agency, He was so loathed by some members that he very nearly did not get into the agency. As far as I know he only got accepted by one vote.

Be nice and generous about other peoples photographic work as that is good Karma for your own work.

Be active and work hard, don’t expect to succeed. However work hard really hard on finding your own voice and you might find some sort of success. Be ready to define your own success. Martin embraced the art world as the editorial market dried up he also worked with people who would fund documentary projects with grants. This feed into work that he published in books and exhibited at various galleries and art institutions.

The Martin Parr Foundation is worth checking out.

The Last Resort (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link)

The Cost of Living (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) This book is now rather expensive.

Bad Weather (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) Made using a Nikonos Underwater camera, I wish I had bought one of these and sat on it as the original is rather highly priced now. Even the Errata Editions book is expensive (Amazon USA link).

His more recent books/work is:

Martin Parr by Martin Parr and Val Williams (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) The most in Depth look at Martin’s work that has been published.

The Non Conformists (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) A look at Martin’s Early work in Black and White.

Beach Therapy (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link)

Small World (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) Originally Published in 1996 and one of his good books now revised and extended.

Up ad Down Peachtree Photos of Atlanta (Amazon US link), (Amazon UK link) Images made in Atlanta for an exhibition of his work in 2012

Martin Parr has published so many books that I can’t list them all here, however you will get the idea from the links above of the range and type of books he has published. Martin is/was a prolific collector of other photographers books and cowrote a three books on Photobooks with Gerry Badger and one On Chinese Photobooks. The Photobook: A History Vol 1, 11.and 111 are also seminal books on the history of the Photobook.