delb0y
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- Derek
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I know feelings run very high about Martin Parr on this forum, nevertheless I am going to risk opening that debate again...
I love a good photobook, and probably spend too much money on them as they can be expensive. But I do find the good ones inspirational. So I recently took advantage of an old deal, which to my amazement was still honoured, to get a copy of a signed book by Martin Parr and another (unsigned, of course!) by Tony Ray Jones. The TRJ books looks excellent and contains a long essay about TRJ, as well as loads of wonderful photos, but I've yet to read the essay, so won't write about that book yet.
The Martin Parr book is his "Early Works" book. It's all black and white, and quite gritty. The photos are excellent and capture unique moments in time and place, evoking memories of long lost days, with not a little melancholy and quite some uneasiness. The book is hardback, clothbound, and the pages are thicker than any other photobook I've bought. The printing is great. Really outstanding quality, overall. I haven't counted precisely, but I'd estimate there are over a hundred images, and they really are very good.
In the introduction Jeffrey Ladd says that early portfolios like these can sometimes give the impression that a photographer was up and running at full pace right from the off, from the very start of their career as it were. But that's not true - it's a case that the portfolio curator is simply only showing the artist's best work from that era. Well, in my opinion, all of this work is outstanding, but as Jeffrey alluded, this is the 0.1% of good stuff and there was (and still is) 99.9% failure rate.
Anyway, I know a lot of people really don't like Martin Parr, but I still think this work is worth a look, because it's very different to his colour work. Magnum did a piece on this early work here:
www.magnumphotos.com
And there are some further excellent examples in this article from the Metro:
metro.co.uk
Derek
I love a good photobook, and probably spend too much money on them as they can be expensive. But I do find the good ones inspirational. So I recently took advantage of an old deal, which to my amazement was still honoured, to get a copy of a signed book by Martin Parr and another (unsigned, of course!) by Tony Ray Jones. The TRJ books looks excellent and contains a long essay about TRJ, as well as loads of wonderful photos, but I've yet to read the essay, so won't write about that book yet.
The Martin Parr book is his "Early Works" book. It's all black and white, and quite gritty. The photos are excellent and capture unique moments in time and place, evoking memories of long lost days, with not a little melancholy and quite some uneasiness. The book is hardback, clothbound, and the pages are thicker than any other photobook I've bought. The printing is great. Really outstanding quality, overall. I haven't counted precisely, but I'd estimate there are over a hundred images, and they really are very good.
In the introduction Jeffrey Ladd says that early portfolios like these can sometimes give the impression that a photographer was up and running at full pace right from the off, from the very start of their career as it were. But that's not true - it's a case that the portfolio curator is simply only showing the artist's best work from that era. Well, in my opinion, all of this work is outstanding, but as Jeffrey alluded, this is the 0.1% of good stuff and there was (and still is) 99.9% failure rate.
Anyway, I know a lot of people really don't like Martin Parr, but I still think this work is worth a look, because it's very different to his colour work. Magnum did a piece on this early work here:
The Ordinary Made Extraordinary: Martin Parr in Black and White • Martin Parr • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos
A new photobook charts Martin Parr’s early work from Butlins holiday camps to the isolated chapels of Yorkshire and Manchester’s working class terraces
www.magnumphotos.com
And there are some further excellent examples in this article from the Metro:
Photographer Martin Parr gives glimpse into his early career with new book
'If I get 10 really good shots a year, I say it’s a pretty good year. And to achieve that I’ve taken nearly half a million'
metro.co.uk
Derek
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