This week I went to the opening of Martin Parr’s new exhibition ‘Beach Therapy’ which show cases Parr’s latest work documenting the beaches of the UK, Italy, Spain and Argentina. In the past three years he has been utilising a telephoto lens to shoot subjects from a distance, this is quite a departure form his usually way working. The use of a telephoto lens flattens the perspective and creates playful juxtapositions with blurred subjects in the foreground to create something quite different from his previous work.
Documentary photographers usually get up close to there subjects so this quite a departure from the norm using lenses usually used by sports or landscape photographers. The images are all huge 1.5m x 1 meters so it’s worth seeing in the flesh.
I have a real affection for Martin’s photos of coastal life as I grew up in the seaside towns of Margate & Folkestone and now live in Brighton. I love the tackiness of the seaside, the hustle and bustle and the clearly defined border of where town meets the sea, I’ve only actually spent two years of my life living inland.
Beach Therapy is open from Thursday – Sunday between 12 – 6pm until the 2nd July at the Rocket Gallery 4-6 Sheep Lane, London E8 4QS. If you are not near london and can’t make the show you can always keep an eye on Parr’s work on Instagram, his studio has joined as @martinparrstudio and post regularly.
How often do you shoot in P mode ?
Never. I most of time I am Manual but I let the camera set the ISO. Other than that Always Aperture priority or Shutter priority.