Martin Parr Research

Research for Martin Parr

Martin Parr Context
Parr is a documentary photographer although he documents his images in a different way than we are used to. In his documentary images he uses humour, criticism and seduction to express his views across in an image. His images show us the way we live in an understandable way, we can also grasp from his photos what we value and how we present ourselves. This is shown in the images that I have chosen because he is showing the stereotypical life of English people at the beach and this has been expressed using humour. In 1994 he became a full member of Magnum Photographic Corporation. He is a very controversial photographer because at first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated. The motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garish and the perspectives are unusual. The way he expresses photos shows people in a way we wouldn't normally look at them, he documents the bad habits of people as well as the good habits. 

In this image we can see two seagulls eating some chips, there is also a UK flag behind the seagulls and the sky is very blue. The picture is extremely saturated and had been cropped to show the seagulls as being the main feature of the picture. Although we cannot see the seaside we immediately assume that this is the location because of the symbols in this image e.g, the seagulls and chips. The saturated colour of this image immediately draws me in as it adds to the positive effect of the image, the main focus of of this image is the seagulls fighting over a bag of chips. We associate these main aspects with British seaside as chips is the stereotypical cuisine and seagulls are the stereotypical wildlife. Although it is not entirely in focus the UK flag stands out to me because the moral of this image is to show the stereotypical life of English beaches and I immediately am drawn to something that symbolises the UK. These images of beaches are taken in New Brighton, near Liverpool.

In this image we can see a man eating beans and chips. The picture is extremely saturated to increase the vibrance of the colours and to add to the positive effect, also this image has been cropped to focus in on the food and the mans hand. The image focuses in on this part because it shows symbolism of the beach. Although we cannot see the seaside but because of the saturated colours and the traditional food we can tell that this is located at the seaside. Martin Parr seems as though he is photographing the working class because this is the stereotypical meal for the working class when they are on holiday. The way that he has focused in on the mans ring almost seems as though he is making fun of him as we wouldn't associate this man with having the riches by the food he is eating. Athough the food isn't in focus I am immediately drawn to it because these images are supposed to represent the stereotypical life of the seaside towns and the only symbol that represents a seaside theme is the food he is eating. 

In this image we can see a woman lying down on a towel with someone lying next to her, she has a big red hat on her head and there are people walking by her. This image isn't as saturated as Parr's normal photography is but the hat is extremely vibrant. The hat over her face shows us that she is protecting her face from the sun which can also link to her hiding her identity as we can't see her face. In this image the red hat can represent the sun because it is the main focus, we associate the beach with the sun which is represented by the hat. We associate the colour red with love, the hat being red represents the love that British people have for the beach. There is a lot of symbolism in this image from the sand to the towel to the big red hat. The red hat stands out to me in this picture because it is centred and is the first thing we look at. 

In this image we can see what looks like an old woman because of the wrinkles on her had lying on a sun lounger in her bikini. She is holding a cigarette between her fingers, she is also wearing jewellery and had red nails. This image has also been saturated like Parr's other work, by saturating the image we can see the scale of the tan this lady has as it makes her skin look rubbery. This adds to the comedic effect that Parr leaves on his photos as he is showing the comedy values of how British people love to tan. Parr has cropped the picture so that it is focused on her hand, this shows that he wants to emphasise the fact that she is smoking, we don't tend to associate older women with smoking but the fact that she's wearing red nail polish could show that she has an element of rebellion within her as we associate red with danger. Parr's comedic values could also come into effect with the jewellery. that she is wearing, similar to the man eating the chips, these people wouldn't normally be associated with the riches which is why he has focused in on her jewellery. Her nail polish stands out to me in this image because it is very vibrant and obvious. 

In this image we can see a woman sitting in a car reading a paper, what we assume is her husband is standing outside of the car taking pictures of the views. Although this image doesn't link to the beach theme like my previous pictures I still can use this image in my work. Similar to Parr's other images this also has comedic values because it compares the two people, the woman is in the car reading the paper rather than appreciating the views in-front of her. This comparison could be considered as sexist because it could be seen as though he is giving the view that all women care about is gossip i.e the newspaper stories rather than the views they are experiencing. The main focus of this image is the woman in the car because she is in the foreground of the picture compared to the man who is in the background of the picture. Unlike Parr's seaside shots this one is less saturated because it is showing a different meaning. 

Influence and Summary

Martin Parr has influenced my work because of his idea of expressing British Culture at the beach. His use of a comedic value is also significant as it makes people think about the features of their lives that they care about which are not actually considered as important. He focuses on the ides that British people on holiday only care about their tans and the food. Parr also uses saturated images which expresses his ideas more as it makes the tans seem bolder and draws attention to the people. In the beginning of my shoots I wanted to use Parr's idea of saturation but then when I explored the idea of British Culture further I realised that this was probably not the best idea for my final outcome.

 

This image links to Parr's work because it represents his idea of how obsessed British people are with their tans. This idea is made more obvious in the edited picture because I have saturated the image to make the tans appear more orange. My image relates to Martin Parr because it is taken at the beach and it documents the lives of British people. The weather is also a main focus because in all of Parr's images the sky is bright and blue which makes the idea of the heat and the sun more apparent. My technical approach is not exactly similar to Parr's because he gets close and personal with the objects he is documenting which I have not done here, my idea was more based on a landscape which isn't what Parr concentrated on. However, my conceptual idea was similar because he documented British Culture which is what I have documented throughout my shoots.