Martin Parr
Parr’s series “common sense” makes a statement about the
modern world, social and cultural tourism. It illustrates the middle/working
class’ behaviour and the ways of life. There are a range of images, from backs
of heads to typical English food. The images of food tend to illuminate and
bring out the bad features in the food such as grease and sugar, illustrating
the working class life style.
Some of Martin Parrs most influential images:
The images have been shot with ring flash, usually in
daylight. This makes the colours more saturated and shows that Parr described
as: “what I liked and disliked about middle classes”. A lot of the main themes
seem to be money, appearance and consumerism. English clichés are used
throughout such as tea, the union jack and novelty items. This has been very
popular in France. It shows England the way people from abroad may picture it.
In my images I have chosen to travel to Brighton which in
the summer is the height of British tourism. Parr took many of his images in Brighton
and as I have friends there I will be able to arrange the trip. I am a regular
traveller to Brighton and even past the seasonal months there is always a very
British feel.
I wanted to keep the themes of English tourism by
photographing something that could in a way define or explain this. Whilst
exploring Brighton I photographed a few sights/objects that stood out to me. I
went in a sweet shop and found an English breakfast made out of rock which, I felt,
perfectly reflected the theme of consumerism and showed off middle class
faults. I took the image at a slight angle that appears to be prominent in Parr’s
compositions, rather than from a perfectly straight above viewpoint.
My take on Martin Parr's method:
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