Martin Parr documentary

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If you know about Parr's history there's not much added, and there's some pretentious curator talk. Nonetheless I always like watching photographers at work and it's an interesting and entertaining watch with lots of Parr photos (some I hadn't seen). If it comes out on DVD or some download I'll probably get a copy. Four out of five.
 
Excellent. Will keep an eye out for it on normal TV. I hope it appears on that.

I saw him on his Boring Postcard tour years ago.
 
Dear old Martin - he's been & still is such an engine in British photography, though I saw him disparagingly for years as being exploitative rather than compassionate in his images. Somehow I felt that he fell to one side of that hinge where Tom Wood fell to the other, as if Martin lampooned where Tom was just honest. And felt that I understood how Philip Jones Griffiths (Vietnam.inc & Collateral Damage, etc,)whose work had such great import, resisted his entry to Magnum.
 
droj said:
Dear old Martin - he's been & still is such an engine in British photography, though I saw him disparagingly for years as being exploitative rather than compassionate in his images. Somehow I felt that he fell to one side of that hinge where Tom Wood fell to the other, as if Martin lampooned where Tom was just honest. And felt that I understood how Philip Jones Griffiths (Vietnam.inc & Collateral Damage, etc,)whose work had such great import, resisted his entry to Magnum.
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I have a feeling that deep down Parr isn't as cruel as his pictures can come across, and that he uses that cynical style because it makes him money, which enables him to keep taking photos for himself. In his early work you can see the influence of the 'Magnum Approach' and style, and every so often it sneaks out in his colour work. I find Black Country Stories far less critical and more celebratory.

Watching the documentary I was surprised that in the New Brighton/Last Resort section there was no mention of Tom Wood. A serious omission IMO. especially as there was one picture that flashed up which could have passed as a Tom Wood from that era.

Parr is certainly a divisive figure, but one that can't be ignored. I'm also beginning to think that he has had too much influence in some quarters, in the same way HCB and Magnum have, in that they are the styles people try to imitate. But that's probably true in all times as art/creative styles and approaches (overall and individually) don't evolve in a smooth line but in steps.

As I said previously, it was really good to see him at work. It makes it clear how he can get the photos he does.
 
Just watched this. Didn't realise he used a Plaubel 6x7 for the Last Resort. For some reason I always assumed it was done with 35mm!.

It's on iplayer now. Was shown on bbc4.

I think Grayson Perry makes a good point that documentary photography doesn't always have to be about misery.
 
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