LO1 - Martin Parr

Genre

Parr is a social reporter whose key concepts when photographing are: leisure, consumption and communication. He has been a travelling the world for several decades to pursue his love of photography but was originally born in Surrey in England.
Parr tends to take relatively close or detailed images through use of a macro lens and employ saturated colours. This effectively puts his subjects ''under the microscope'' in their natural environments; often exposing the inadvertent humour within them. His images give a dystopian feel at times- where many photographers will travel to take exotic images Parr instead enjoys taking gritty and gruesome pictures. For instance, in his images of British beaches he shows the rubbish on the floor; other photographers would probably try to ignore these unappealing details. The overflowing of the rubbish may signify ever growing population of the country itself and imperfection that many artists choose not to show.
During his time as a photographer he's had nearly 40 solo photo books published after partnering up with Magnum photos. His work has been featured in around 80 exhibitions worldwide- including his international touring exhibition, Parrworld.

This image was photographed in Holland. Initially looking at the photo I sensed there was more of a comedic element to the image, the viewers attention is drawn to so many seemingly random objects throughout the room that it makes the photograph quite surreal. There's also the shock factor present in most of Parr's pictures- a baby drinking a glass of wine at the back of the room! In spite of the thoroughly bizarre character interactions photographed, the image feels unstaged and still has that gritty, earthy feel.
The genre of the piece is social reportage which involves the photographer going out and taking pictures at events that appear spontaneous and capture the identities of people within their natural (or unnatural) habitats. These images, as shown above, often contain a variety of people and props which give the image a sense of randomness- they are rare photo opportunities.

Image analysis
Many photographic elements are shown within this image. The use of light casts gentle shadows across the image as not to disturb the events pictured, yet they also manage to give the image more depth than it would've possessed beforehand. When looking at the photograph my eyes are automatically drawn to the cross so I would personally consider this to be the focus; however other people's eyes are drawn to the baby, so I wonder what Parr intended the focal point to be. The composition of Parr's images appear to be the most important element, as I have mentioned before the positioning seems spontaneous but also packs many contrasts into the image to enforce the impression of a narrative within the picture. The images majorly are shot from straight ahead instead of having a more inventive viewpoint; but this compliments the style of his photographs. By showing the scene from straight on you are put in the shoes of another character in the room or on the beach, offering you a moment to participate in the surreal narratives evident in his work in stead of merely spectating. In his pictures the lighting is often very important as it gives the image a saturated feel. A lot of his photos are taken by the British seaside, the bright sunny lighting makes the people seem ungenuine; as if they are merely stereotypes of people at the beach instead of actual people.

Analysis of purpose 
In his work he examines 'national characteristics and international phenomena' to discover how these things will translate to future generations and the effect they will have. In doing so I believe he creates photos with an element of satire comedy- beneath the comedic layer of representation (for instance the realism of the unappealing British beaches) he may want to confront bigger issues and criticise parts of our generation. However not everyone appreciates Parr's pieces, the photo critic Colin Jacobson commented Parr was “a gratuitously cruel social critic who has made large amounts of money by sneering at the foibles and pretensions of other people“ (he makes money by making fun of other peoples faults and beliefs through a lens). Critics argue that the voyeuristic imagery of Parr's work is exploitive of the people and specifically of the working class to which he has replied, "I think that all photography involving people has an element of exploitation... I often think of what I photograph as a soap opera where I am waiting for the right cast to fall into place''. Parr does not need exotic locations like most other photographers to create an interesting image, he tries to use places and people that many will see as ordinary and present to his viewers the appeal within them. Eric Kim (blogger) spoke about his photography book 'The last resort' and said "the book has a great sense of emotion in the images– and a wonderful cadence (flow) of images. There are images that feel quite sad, lonely, and melancholy– while other shots are much more humorous, silly, and cheerful. But I think what makes many of the images great is that this line is often blurred– you are never sure if people are really having a good time (or simply trying to escape from their misery)".

Martin Parr exhibition

In the holidays I visited a Martin Parr exhibition and took some photographs. The pictures were well arranged in a way that offered the viewer a chance to appreciate the smaller details- except for the wall pictured at the top as it was a collage of images put together by Parr himself. Seeing pictures in a physical format is very different to viewing them online, it's much more consuming as you can alter the way you view it by closing/widening the distance between you and the frame.
This exhibition made me love Parr's work even more, from the colours to the themes he addresses with each photograph. The latter three images I took above explored British people at the sea side (second) and tourism (third and fourth). It's the gritty realism in his photography that attracts so many people to it, he doesn't sugar-coat humanity and instead tries to expose the reality of his subject's situations whether it be of a bizarre or serious nature.
I feel each picture had a personality when being in the room alongside them, like I became involved in an aspect of the moment they captured before moving on to the next one.