Martin Parr Quotes

Photography is Art and Art is Photography.

Criticism is hypocrisy; society is hypocrisy. I’m a tourist. I’m a consumer. I do the things that I photograph and can be criticized of.

As artists get wealthier and more famous, often their work gets worse… I’m fascinated by the decline of artists. I suspect I’ll be in decline myself. It’s a fact of life.

I have been photographing people dancing for 20 or 30 years now, and I think I will eventually do a book of dancing photos.

I am away so much, so I rarely see live TV, but I use iPlayer to catch programmes.

Photos tend to organize chaos, to define what we’re doing here. It is essential that individuals’ voices depict the world around us, as we are increasingly controlled by large institutions, large companies and large systems.

If you photograph for a long time, you get to understand such things as body language. I often do not look at people I photograph, especially afterwards. Also when I want a photo, I become somewhat fearless, and this helps a lot. There will always be someone who objects to being photographed, and when this happens you move on.

Part of the role of photography is to exaggerate. Most of the photographs in your paper, unless they are hard news, are lies. Fashion pictures show people looking glamorous. Travel pictures show a place looking at its best, nothing to do with the reality… Most of the pictures we consume are propaganda.

All photography is propaganda.

Taking photos is a form of collecting.

Photographs are interpretations of reality; as such, it is entirely subjective. Most photos are taken with an agenda, to sell something or to make a subject look better than it really is. Think of family snapshots – everyone is smiling and happy.

I avoid Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and if I need to communicate with someone, I email direct.