Martin Parr

Martin Parr was born in a middle class family in Epsom, Surrey, Britain, in 1952. He claims his grandfather inspired him to become a photographer. He later went on to study photography at Manchester Polytechnic. Most of Parr’s early work was black and white it wasn't until 1984 that he begun his produced work in colour. In 1986 Parr produced a series of worked entitled ‘Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton’

New Brighton is a small very run down sea side resort in the north west of England. At the time of the photographs Margaret Thatcher was in power, parts of the country were falling apart. Parr documents the decay of the affected surroundings juxtaposed against the people in the images, still living normally, having days out and enjoying themselves. Parr claims he always found traditional aspects of British culture appealing. This type of surrounding was new to him having given his background.

New Brighton, Merseyside 1985

His images in the series show a sense of vulnerability, they’re raw and true, documenting people doing what people do. That can sometimes be uncomfortable we don’t like to see the bad points about ourselves. Also Parr’s use of saturated colour is solid and strong, it makes his documentary photography even more powerful. There always feels like there is a lot to take in from a Martin Parr images. He has the ability to make his viewer remember an image, making his a pretty skilled documentary photographer.

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