Martin Parr doesn't care for film

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Do you stop during sex to bounce in some fill?

:-D

Bouncing a filling makes sex more fun. You can't lay there and do nothing.

 

[mynewcolour]

Martin said somewhere that The Last Resort would be impossible to shoot now because someone would take exception to elements of the subject matter. How popular consciousness has changed in 30 years! The naked male infant was sufficiently inspired by the photograph to a take a photography degree as an adult. The point about the telephoto wasn't to snoop - Parr has no problem shooting in people's faces - it's to challenge the wide angle aesthetic of street photography as a whole. He's always been experimental in his approach, and his advocacy of Stephen Gill who shoots exclusively on film and whose work is all about the film medium, shows he isn't anti-analogue.

I posted the link because Martin Parr's work was closely associated with hand held medium format colour negative photography, but he found the transition to digital easy to make. For others that isn't so. Parr didn't seek commercial success, advertising and fashion came to him after Last Resort and I'm sure the irony of the situation wasn't lost on him! One of my favourite Parr quotes came when a young and somewhat naïve interviewer asked if he wasn't a little bit obsessive in his photography. Martin Parr replied that the problem with most photographers is they aren't obsessed enough.

Are you familiar with Philip Lorca diCorcia's Heads series (and book I think)? That is telephoto street photography. I'm massively inspired by almost all work I've seen of his.

 

[mynewcolour]

Martin Parr?

Never heard of her.

He doesn't like film and he swears to 'P' mode and hate manual, wow....!
I am sure if he ever actually read the manual for his camera, he would be able to utilize actual manual control as well.


Kai on the other hand, has put the 'fun' in photography for many years with digialRev (and analogRev), he recently quit digitalRev and is now living in the UK and runs his own channel.

I think Kai has done more for photography 'for the masses' than Parr and I think you need to have been pretty long in this game to even know who he is.

I'm not sure if you're serious (or trolling). You should probably look Parr up. He knows how to use a camera.

I'm confused as to why you are comparing Parr and Wong? One is a working photographer the other is an youtube content creator.

 

[mynewcolour]

Check out digitalRev's channel, there are tons of videos for the young and budding photographers out there, they are fun and relaxed videos for the most part, covering the basics and various ideas, new equipment etc, sure as heck more interesting then many of the talking heads on there.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom/videos

Interesting if you like comparing cameras. This is a side to photography (particularly digital) that has very little to do with actual photographs.

 

[mynewcolour]

Every blogger out there are sponsored to promote various brands, but the digitalRev-TV has loads of videos not focusing on the latest camera, but more "how to" series and also how to shoot film. Then again, diititalRev was not owned or sponsored by camera-producers.
Kai, these days, especially in his new channel, is more a reviewer than the older style digitalRev fun-tv and it is more apparent that he needs his income and sponsorship.
- Doesn't stop him from whining about shortcomings of various brand though, even though there seems to be more reviews and covering of various 'conventions' and 'venues'.

But squarespace seems to be the solution to all problems!

- I find it strange that seasoned, professional photographers like Parr can shoot in P-mode.
What do they do when the camera decides to shoot a portrait at f16 and ISO 12800 at 1/50's?

Call it 'art' ?

It's lazy and typical for people who didn't adjust that damn blinking clock on their VCR's back in the day.

Use a better P-mode, or use P-mode better. You know you can adjust within P?

 

[mynewcolour]

Yes, well....age and probably the field one is in.
- Photographers tend to know more photographers than non-photographers and non-photographers tend to buy stuff that photographers create.

I wonder where Parr gets his main income from these days, his photography, or sponsorship ? (most big names out there are endorsed, and even if he is more known in the UK or for a different generation of photographers, he very likely is).

Again I'm not sure if you're serious. And I suggest you do some background.

Parr has published many books that remain in print, he works at cultural and sporting events throughout the year and his work is published via Magnum through major publications/journals/sites/papers etc. He's also recently just directed a series of idents for the BBC ... which I expect he didn't do for free.

 

[mynewcolour]

He uses TTL II then.
You can still use manual on your camera, the camera instructs the flash to go up or down in power and you can adjust the flash-power trough flash compensation if it's too weak or too strong, TTL basically has nothing to do with the camera being in manual mode or not.

I just find it strange, then again, his photographs are not my taste (googled and checked, meh'ed and moved on).

FWIW I think he shoots with his flash on manual. The light balance varies (between ambient and fill) but it always fires. The flash points up even outdoors.

 

[mynewcolour]

''Are you going to call him a 'peado' for taking the Last Resort series?''

No...but I do notice that you have introduced the term into the discussion - while you throw around charges of ''tabloid/clickbait thinking''.

Dreadful and insulting assumption, but hey...whatever's on your mind.

JP

Dreadful and insulting assumption? That describes your comment perfectly.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

When I first saw Martin Parr's work in a Museum in San Francisco, I thought his images were prosaic. After looking deeper in his work, I've changed my mind. He documents modern humans with their obsessions with consuming and documenting themselves consuming with selfies. He also shows the less than glamorous side of the rich and famous with the supposed idyllic life. He's having fun documenting Eurotrash culture. Some artist embrace life in totality warts and all.

 

[mynewcolour]

I follow several podcasts and vlogs who do talk about various names in photography, Parr has never been mentioned even once.

Crumbs.

Please be aware you probably haven't exposed yourself to much photography. You should get to some galleries.

 

[mynewcolour]

Bouncing a filling makes sex more fun. You can't lay there and do nothing.

Pass the mind-bleach.

 

[richyd]

I saw an exhibition of some his early work together with that of other British photographers of the time. The subject matter and the the original prints were wonderful. However, also included were many new prints which were inkjet and and too large for the resolution and the quality was terrible. I have seen good inkjet prints and these were not so was surprised that he must have been happy to display these alongside that sublime original work.

 

[Helinophoto]

Again I'm not sure if you're serious. And I suggest you do some background.

I was for the most part not being very serious, more tongue in cheek, but I could care less for forgone 'heros' like HCB, AA and the whole lot really, since success in this trade is based more often than not, on connections and background, usually a rich one, instead of raw talent.


You can't reach a younger audience with dry talking heads, it needs to be fun, to the point and cool, digitalRev and analogRev was just that. (not sure what is happening with the channel, as no new material has been posted in months.)
digitalRev has a lot of reviews and comparison, but if you had bother to look down the list, you see that they cover stuff that newcomers typically ask 100 times over. That, and Kai and Lok's shenanigans made the channel a youtube hit for any young person with an interest for photography, they have also covered analog photography and cameras.

 

[blockend]

Are you familiar with Philip Lorca diCorcia's Heads series (and book I think)? That is telephoto street photography. I'm massively inspired by almost all work I've seen of his.

Yes indeed, also Nick Turpin's shots of bus passengers: https://petapixel.com/2014/11/08/ha...aphs-london-bus-passengers-nighttime-commute/

 

[blockend]

I was for the most part not being very serious, more tongue in cheek, but I could care less for forgone 'heros' like HCB, AA and the whole lot really, since success in this trade is based more often than not, on connections and background, usually a rich one, instead of raw talent.

It's certainly true that Cartier-Bresson had access to a Leica and as much film as he desired compared to most of his contemporaries, but he explored the artistic potential of those tools brilliantly. He was of course a man of his time with some fairly stodgy likes and dislikes, including blackballing Martin Parr's Magnum membership. Fortunately he was in a minority. All professions and arts have a degree of nepotism and protectionism, but photography is one of the less ring fenced, especially since the internet, hence the popularity of YouTube "photographers" who are shills for manufacturers and retailers.

You can't reach a younger audience with dry talking heads, it needs to be fun, to the point and cool, digitalRev and analogRev was just that. (not sure what is happening with the channel, as no new material has been posted in months.)
digitalRev has a lot of reviews and comparison, but if you had bother to look down the list, you see that they cover stuff that newcomers typically ask 100 times over. That, and Kai and Lok's shenanigans made the channel a youtube hit for any young person with an interest for photography, they have also covered analog photography and cameras.

Kai is amusing in a bawdy kind of way, but he made his name as a front for an off shore box-shifting camera seller who wanted to appeal to a younger demographic. He'd probably admit his photography is limited. DigitalRev had a few interesting features like cheap camera challenge, but the majority of videos were concerned with commercial churn, not photographs. Since the demise of DR Kai seems to be a gun for hire, and will work for anyone who wants a slice of his ironic take on the camera market, including promoting professional video equipment that he's manifestly ill-equipped to assess.

 

[mynewcolour]

Yes indeed, also Nick Turpin's shots of bus passengers: https://petapixel.com/2014/11/08/ha...aphs-london-bus-passengers-nighttime-commute/

Funny you should mention Turpin. I only became aware of these photos last month. I think they are beautiful. I realised I've seen a lot of work that probably imitates Turpin's.

 

[mynewcolour]

You can't reach a younger audience with dry talking heads, it needs to be fun, to the point and cool, digitalRev and analogRev was just that.

I largely disagree. I'm inspired most with lectures from or meetings with actual talent. If that's not possible then seeing copies of the work and reading/hearing from them as directly as possible. Critique is ok too.

DigitalRev was a camera channel, about cameras, not pictures.

I hope Kai does more content such as the Parr interview. That is worthwhile.

As for it being cool? ... how would we know ... perhaps the cool kids are over at the negativefeedback channel.

 

[Helinophoto]

Now you are just being difficult because you can, the channel was a hit for the very reasons listed.

 

[removed account4]

Funny you should mention Turpin. I only became aware of these photos last month. I think they are beautiful. I realised I've seen a lot of work that probably imitates Turpin's.

i saw his work for the first time 5 mins ago !
( thanks blockend!)

 

[mynewcolour]

Now you are just being difficult because you can, the channel was a hit for the very reasons listed.

If you find our conversation difficult ... sorry. Please don't speculate on my motives. That isn't very charitable.

I didn't question that 'the channel was a hit for the reasons listed'.

 

[ericdan]

checked out Parr's work again. His work is good. Especially the old stuff shot on film!

 

[blockend]

Some of Martin's earlier black and white work: Dead Link Removed

Check out the delightfully quirky and important publisher of unknown or forgotten 70s and 80s documentary photography: Dead Link Removed

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I googled Martin Parr and I was like - "is Bill Murray this old now?"

This guy has funky pictures at Magnum slide presentation. No film is needed for snaps like his. He must be really great in the past, if they still keep him at Magnum.

This guy leaves current Parr in the dust:
http://aleksandrpetrosyan.com/category/75

 

[Richard Man]

Of course there are different strokes for different folks, but some of you guys are so.... "funny". Sour grapes don't even describe it.

 

[blockend]

The reason Parr was ground breaking is he took the colour work of people like Stephen Shore and William Eggleston - whose work was reviled by critics for eschewing the dominant monochrome aesthetic of "serious" photography - and gave it an ironic twist. All of those people stepped on the establishment's toes in different ways, and in doing so advanced photography as a medium. You can like Martin Parr's colour work or hate it, but to lack an understanding of its place in the history of photography is pure ignorance.