Martin Parr

Martin Parr is the next photographer that I have chosen to research. He is a British documentary photographer and photojournalist. Parr is known for his photographic projects that take a look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England and more broadly, the wealth of the Western world.

The reason I have chosen to research him is that I am going to take inspiration from his work to apply in my own project by looking at the camera angles he uses and the way he captures a story within each of his images.

I would like to create documentary images and be able to convey a story behind each of my photographs, much like Martin Parr.

This is an example of a documentary image by Martin Parr and the location of the image is Brighton Beach. . Parr captured a story within his image showing these two young children at a day on the beach. This image is from a set of images called 'Last resort'. The idea behind the image is to portray a working class family on a day trip to the beach.

The children in the shot are much brighter in tone and colour compared to the background that is much more dull and drab, meaning your eyes are immediately drawn to the children in the centre of the shot. The way that this is a candid shot also makes the image more interesting to look at as the children have not posed for Parr, he has simply captured them in the act. Questions such as "What are the children looking at?" could also be asked which my the image more intriguing.

The image has been composed equally and there are no more components in one section than another. The children are central in the foreground and the background fades out behind them making them the main focus. The angle of view is also fairly low making the children look perhaps bigger than they really are, I think the reason Parr did this was to capture the feel of the image from more of a child's perspective. The use of colour within the image is varied and the children and the car are the brightest in colour making them the background fade out slightly. The aperture when shooting this image will have been quite narrow as most of the image is in focus. The sense of mood is happy within this image but Parr also manages to create a melancholy feel by highlighting aspects of the children that perhaps indicate their working class background.

This is another example of a documentary image by Martin Parr.

The concept behind the image is the same as the above, to show working class family holidays. This image is from a set of images called 'Think of England'. The lighting within the image is quite bright and the colours are quite vibrant. There are some slight shadows in the image but nothing dramatic to distract your eye away from the subjects.

The location of this image is the beach. In the image there are two people, who look like they could be father and daughter. The camera angle for this image is quite low, captured at the height of the person who is sat down. The image has also be composed so that most of the subject's figures fill the frame. The engagement with the subject matters are fairly close-up and they are what your eye is immediately drawn too. The sense of mood in this piece is happy and very family orientated. The aperture when shooting this image will have been quite large as the foreground of the image, the man's back, is all in focus. This is in contrast with the background as the little girl and the surrounding location are out of focus, meaning your eyes are immediately drawn to the focused part of the shot with the 'England' tattoo correlating to the title of the set.