Meeting Martin Parr (part 1)

We met Martin Parr for a short interview the day before the opening of his exhibition “Martin Parr Photographs 1971-2000”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm.

This is the first part of the summary of our conversation.

Joanna Kinowska (also picture of M. Parr), Ulf Fågelhammar

Photography

MP: it’s the most interesting, urgent, democratic, relevant art form we can possibly have. There are more and more people appreciating photography,there is a bigger market for photography, than never before. I’d talk about people on sites like Flickr, which have an enormous number of people contributing to it, and are extremely important to the way the whole discourse on photography is undertaken. (...) Clearly you’re one of the people making a contribution to the fact that there’s a dialogue on the internet about photography, an intelligent one.

Photographing people

MP: I photograph people without guilt and that’s the secret. Most photographers feel guilty approaching people. And if you feel guilty then people get tense and nervous. But I am doing it with much confidence. Of course, I’m always on the look out for problems.And there are problem people who can’t be photographed, and if that’s the case, you usually pick up on that and move on.
They may argue with me, they may choose to argue with me. One of the benefits of digital photography is that you can look at the picture and just delete it. Instead of sitting there for hours, as has happened occasionally, when the policeman and try to get the film out of you. Well that has happened only once – it was in the Middle East, where there is a problem in terms of photography, especially with women in the Middle East.

Martin Parr, Auchan hypermarket, Calais, France, 1988, from "One Day Trip"

Magnum

MP: I enjoy being in Magnum, because they are very good at finding different channels to show your work, so I’m very happy when I’m published in newspapers, magazines, but you know I don’t feel this sort of mission, to show my pictures to everybody, or even more I don’t think that they could have any effect on them. You’re creating in the end an entertainment, and photography is a part of the entertainment industry and I’m very happy that through this industry I can survive on my work. I have the ability to pursue the ideas I want to pursue.

In the terms of the way and type of photography, Magnum’s vocabulary has expanded; the range of photography has expanded a lot since I joined. And this is the aspect of Magnum’s open form. We have people like Alec Soth who has probably the most successful photoblog in the world. If you look at my Magnum in Motion (MiM) you’ll find it is without music. I don´t want music in my MiM, because I don´t want any Hollywood values, and I feel some of them have. So that’s a personal choice. I’m not opposed to a music accompanying photographs if it’s done well and intelligently and that can be achieved, but to do that takes a lot of time, …. So, therefore it’s not something I gave priority to, I wanted to make the point of not having music in my MiM when I was given the chance to do a MiM.

I do enormously lot of assignments for Magnum and for myself. It’s just change from what it was 30 years ago, but there’s no point living in the past, the whole industry and the whole face of photography is changing quickly and it is important to embrace change and not fight it.

Projects
MP: I think I am clear about my intentions. I work in projects. For each project I can explain to you what is contributing to the bigger picture. Within that project there will be individual pictures, which may or may not make much sense. It’s only when you take them and put the series together you see how successful they are in contributing to the statement of what the project could be.

So yes, I think every project has a very clear intension. An overall intension is there as I mentioned briefly earlier and I think it’s all very clear and logical if you choose to inspect it that way.

Any message to the F Blog readers?

MP: Yes, yes, take better pictures, don’t do cliches, be yourself, be passionate, and that’s all.

Have a look at http://www.magnumphotos.com/ www.martinparr.com alecsoth.com/blog Alec Soth is also one of our invited guests

Le Blurb - by Svend Videbak

Le Blurb
These pictures are just as much about drawing and painting as they are
about photography. In a couple of cases I have finished a photographic print
by hand, to "dress" it with colour and form in ways that I thought were needed.
In other cases I have started with a large sheet of watercolour paper, marking
out a square and filling it by drawing and painting with great speed and
spontaneity without fixating upon a subject -- I have tried to let my hand and
heart rule, keeping my brain out of it.

Then I have taken the result, taped it on a wall in a darkened room, and
photographed it by painting on it with a hand-held halogen spotlight, shaping
the light with my hands during a long exposure with total spontaneity.












The results are generally an impenetrable mess. A mess, however, that begins
to come alive when I look at it on the computer after scanning the negative.
Or not. Usually, not. These pictures, however, did come to life at least for me.
I hope they live for you as well in a continuing flash of recognition.




















Pictures and text: Svend Videbak
Titles from top:
Three
Anatomy of a breakdown (1)
Anatomy of a breakdown (2)
Angel of mercy
Golden Jade
Just married
Portrait of a shy girl
Sentinel

Citylights

Picture by Markus Jenemark

I Came to your party dressed as a shadow

T o m H o l m l u n d

shades

Partisan

Pictures by Guyla Fazakas

Umbrellas

Pictures by Jan Buse

blue pears

© Jeanne Wells

Before the summer sun left, I thought I'd do some cyanotypes.

New Nick Brandt photos

Release of new Nick Brandt Photos
The 22 new photographs are the first new work released since May 2006.
They were taken September 2006-May 2007 in Kenya and Tanzania.
You can see the photos in the CONTINUUM 2006-2007 folder
at www.nickbrandt.com.

Nick Brandt (USA) is one of our invited guests.
-urbano

December

photo: abeku

invited guest: Magdalena Wajda-Kacmajor

I was born 40 years ago, on the Polish seaside. I spent half of my life there and still long for the smells and sounds of the coast, which sometimes shows in my photos. For several years I’ve lived in Warsaw and frequently visited other large European cities, which made me fascinated with the urban life and urban “snapshots”.
I work as translator, spending many hours at the computer. Photography for me is an escape from the world of words. It is a way to show emotions and impressions without the need to speak or write. I taught myself everything I know in this area, in part from photography guides, in part from various books on photographers, and most importantly, from photos of others.

The series “Library” was shot entirely in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, right in the center of the city. During the Cold War times, this building stood in West Berlin, very close to the Berlin Wall. It was chosen as the meeting place for angels which inhabited both parts of the torn city, watching over its residents as it was wonderfully shown by Wim Wenders is his movie, “Himmel Über Berlin” (“Wings of Desire”). This series is obviously inspired by this film, one of my all-time favorites.

invited by Marcin Górski

Metrograd is getting closer

Photo: Ulla Larsson

As you're reading this you can be sure that Markus Andersson, photographer and member of the F blog, is working hard on preparing his exhibition that opens this saturday. The F blog has looked into what's going on with his preparations and feelings towards the exhibition.

When thinking about your pictures, do you see them as something you do to collect impressions from the outer world or the other way around - that your pictures come from inside you and out to other people?

It's mostly the first case. I sometimes see the camera as a little black box where I collect things that affect me somehow. Usually it's not that important to show the picture to others but to save them for myself. I don't think of my works as documentary in the sense of capturing some kind of truth, it's all about personal reflections.

Knowing that you have massive experience in the darkroom, what is your opinion and experience of digital photos and the digital darkroom?

Well, I wouldn't say massive but I've spent more time in the darkroom than in Photoshop. From what I've seen from skilled digital photographers their technique far exceeds what I'm capable of in the darkroom. I use digital cameras at work and in school but still use film for my personal work. It's partly because I prefer the feeling of working with old cameras with big bright viewfinders where I can clearly see the picture before I shoot, partly because I like the curiosity of waiting for the results.

What is you favourite musical band and how do they affect your photographical work?

My favourite band is the Mountain Goats. I love the lyrics and the intensity in his voice and guitar. The lyrics always create pictures inside my head, like watching a whole movie in three minutes and he's singing it like it's his diary even though it's not autobiographical. I'm not sure if they have had, and in that case how, any affect on my photography. I've tried listening to music while I'm out taking pictures but it's doesn't work for me. It distracts my vision. In the darkroom I need music though.

Is your work telling more of an ongoing story or do you concentrate on different projects and themes?

Usually my photography is an ongoing story. When I start a project it's often because I realise when I look at older pictures that I have been shooting thematically without thinking about it. Once I realise this I start to think of how and why I've been doing it and sometimes it evolves into a conscious project. I work with a couple of parallel projects that can be put aside for a while from time to time. Metrograd for instance is only shot during the fall and winter.

What in your life affects you most both as a person and a photographer?

Actually I think it’s words. I love listening to the lyrics of songs and reading poetry and literature.

If you could go anywhere with your camera, were would you go?

Anywhere? Then I'd probably go someplace in history, for instance photographing the making of the rock carvings at Tanum. More realistically I'd say travelling with a car for a long period of time through Europe. But actually it's not that important where I go with my camera. I've taken some of my favourite photos around the block or on my way to work.

Are you excited about the exhibition and will there be snacks? ;)

I'm very excited (and nervous) and there will of course be snacks, both solid and liquid ;-)

Here is a small sample of what we will meet this Saturday, 8 september, 18 00 - 22 00 at Övre Slottsgatan 14, Uppsala, Sweden

Photos: Markus Andersson

Previous entries about the exhibition

More of Markus' pictures

coming soon

Oslo one more time

the light of Blekinge

From top: Tro, Softa, Tjärleken, Hoppet
All pictures by Benny Persson

Together - exhibition by 25 students from Fotoskolan

Fotoskolan in Stockholm "Together" Tillsammans
Vernissage Thursday 6 September 17-21 Kungstensgatan 45, Stockholm
25 students from Fotoskolan exhibit their work. Among them Viktor Gårdsäter
one of our invited guests. Good luck to you from the F Blog crew.





Pictures from top: Emma Sandström, Viktor Gårdsäterx2

from Jan

picture by Jan Buse (untitled)

last lazy sunday

polas by Kamila Kulik

pictures by Kamila Kulik

Martin Parr, photographs 1971-2000 opening tomorrow in Stockholm

The F blog met Martin Parr today and we also had a look at his exhibition
opening tomorrow at 11 00 AM. It will be on at Kulturhuset, Stockholm until
6 January 2008 (gallery 3, third floor). So you will have plenty of opportunities
to explore his work. It´s highly recommended. Stay tuned to the F blog for
more about this great photographer. /urbano
website:www.martinparr.com

Martin Parr. Pictures by Jeanette Hägglund

The Acropolis, Athens from "Small World"

© Martin Parr/Magnum Photos