Martin Parr
So, my last blog post ended on the inspiration I've found in Bruce Gilden's photographs especially those of Coney Island. This has now lead me on to begin researching into the famous British photographer Martin Parr, by focusing on his well known photographs of New Brighton beach resort, as I've found these images share numerous similarities with those of Bruce Gilden's Coney Island images.
I think to most of those who know of Martin Parr's work, when they think of it, they'd straight away think 'colour'. The majority of Martin Parr's work does heavily revolve around bold colours, which yes, is very different to that of Bruce Gilden's work, and the work I will be producing myself thoughout this project, however it is not the loud colours of Martin Parr's work that appeal to me, it is more so the subject matter and the way martin parr photographs this.
For decades now, it has been leisure, consumption and communication which this photographer has focused on and explored with his photography.
Just like photographing people on the streets, the images involve ordinary people, carrying out their normal day to day behaviour.
What I find all of the images portray, just like Bruce Gilden's Coney Island images also do, is National Characteristics.
Just by looking at these images, you can see that they are typically British, right?
It's interesting to think about why that is?
The job center
The litter
The fish and chips
The clothes people are wearing
Images taken of beach resorts in any other country would be very different to this! Just as any images would be if you took photographs on a street in Britain as appose to any other country!
I think even the colours add to the emphasis of the British theme in the images. However it's safe to say even in black and white these images would look just as interesting and still very clearly portray the typical British seaside scene.
What exploring this concept of national characteristics has got me thinking about is how I can bring this into my own street photography. Seeing as though the vast majority of my images taken in this street photography project will be on streets within the North East, why not try capture regional characteristics in my images?
By this I mean not only just capturing the everyday activity of people in Hartlepool and the north east, but focusing on capturing images that very clearly show they have been taken in the North East of England. Like photographs of Hartlepool characters tucking into a Greg's pasty? - that says 'North East' to me. Or photos of people stood outside the job centre, seeing as though the North East has such high rates of unemployment? Or street photographs of our famous colliery villages?
These concepts may sound like they would portray the north east in nothing but a bad light, but Parr also uses his images as propaganda, creating a message of his own image of society.
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