Martin Parr

D.O.B- 23/05/1952

Place of birth- Surrey, England

Occupation- Photographer

• Parr has been a member of Magnum photography since 1994.
• Parr's series "The Last Resort" has been criticised by some as creating a negative caricature of the British working class.
• Parr has been featured in over 80 exhibits across the world and has had 40 photo books published.
• Parr also had a tour called "ParrWorld".
• His main projects include "Rural communities" (1975-82), "The Last Resort" (1983-85), "The Cost of Living" (1987-1989), "Small World" (1987-1994) and "Common sense" (1995-1999).

The following images are all part of Martin Parr's documentary series "The Last Resort" which focuses around the British working class holiday experience at New Brighton beach.

The saturated tones of this image convey the theme of summer and holidays whilst the unpolished appearance of the beach fits the idea that the beach is in a poorer area of England opposed to a more wealthy area which may have had better facilities.

This unhappy expression of the female waitress conveys the idea that teenagers are always grumpy and do not wish to work as they are lazy.  The fact that the youngest boy is transfixed by the ice-cream conveys the simplicity of youth whilst the fact that the teenage boy is starring at the women's breasts highlights the sexualisation of women by men.

The beach imagery in this imagery conveys the idea that the area in which the image was taken is a holiday destination however the waste in the water carries of connotations of pollution and poverty which contrasts heavily with the idealised white sand beaches and blue seas of foreign holidays.

Influence on my work

My work has been influenced through Parr's work as I chose to shoot my documentary series "Family" whilst I was on holiday and sought to employ the saturated and bright colours which make Parr's work so distinctive.