British photographer Martin Parr on capturing people at their vulnerable worst Britains largest outdoor swimming pool in New Brighton was a holiday destination for workers and their families in the Eighties. A swim and some grub would make for a good day out and some cheery photographs. But when the British photographer Martin Parr took pictures there,he caught the litter floating in the water,babies bawling while their tired mothers rested and armies of people who had come for a bit of tan. Parrs photobook Last Resort (1986) courted much controversy,the British were not too happy being exposed in vivid colour,warts,wrinkles and all. But if you want to know about a country and its people,you have to visit their beaches. People are almost naked,relaxed. As a photographer,Im looking for that moment of vulnerability. I think its what makes a good photograph, says Parr,57,in Delhi for an exhibition of some of his works from Last Resort,British Food and Martin Parr in India 1984-2009. Parr was just 14 when he wanted to be a photographer and four years later he enrolled at the Manchester Polytechnic to study photography. Back then,not many became photographers. Today anybody can be a photographer. With camera phones,people are constantly clicking and if one in a hundred can do it with some seriousness,you might find a good photographer, he says. He began taking photographs in black and white and embraced colour only in the mid 1980s. Serious photography was always in black and white, says Parr,who began shooting in daylight with the flash on,creating an overtly bright and colourful effect. The result is a dramatic image of people at their vulnerable worst. His Indian photographs are unlike the usual fare: these are not pictures of the Ganga in Varanasi,nor of sadhus with ash-marked foreheads. I travelled to India for the first time in 1984,out of curiosity. I reached Delhi in April,it was too hot,so I went to Darjeeling, says Parr,who took photographs of the Tea Planters Club,the Gymkhana Club and St Pauls School in Darjeeling. I have always had a case of Raj nostalgia. In some ways,Darjeeling was more British than Britain was and there was an Indian quirkiness within that very British environment, says Parr,whose irreverent,funny photographs capture the unique laundry drying method at the boys school and the warmth of Glenarys tea room among others. On later visits,he went to the beaches of Goa ,Mumbai and Chennai,shooting a different kind of marine life. Parr is currently busy with sourcing material for the third volume of The Photobook: A History,a selection from over 1,000 photobooks from the 19th century to the present day. I began collecting photobooks three decades back. There are hardly any history books on the subject, he says. His other project is the curation of the Brighton Photo Biennale in October.
