One of the most popular photographers on the planet recounts his life and art By the age of
14 I decided I would be a photographer. 'It's what I will do for the rest of my life until I
drop dead.' I knew when I was very young. It was a definite decision. Don't ask me why. I just
knew it was the right thing. When Martin Parr was fourteen his teacher wrote that he was
'utterly lazy and inattentive' in a school report. He went on to become one of the most
successful and sought-after photographers in the world. Martin has published over one hundred
photobooks on many different subjects from seaside resorts to smoking over his career. Now
for the first and only time Martin has produced a book about himself telling his own story
in his own words. This autobiography combines over 150 of Martin's photographs - from his
earliest snapshots to the work he is doing today - with his recollections and reflections on
each image. We meet a boy growing up in suburbia who collects obsessively and notices
everything. We see him exploding into the public consciousness in the late eighties with a
series of startling ultra-saturated colour images of the British seaside - and scandalising
the photography establishment in the process. We see society changing over the decades from
the demise of steam trains through the opening of the first McDonald's in Moscow to the
transformations of the post-pandemic world. As Martin shares his story his distinctive voice
delicately captured by his friend the writer Wendy Jones he also reveals his approach to work
and commissions his tricks for gaining access and getting the shot and he divulges his
particular passions: for crowds and queues fetes and placards bad weather on beaches and
more. This is the definitive account of a great photographer's career curating the work that
has defined his life. By looking at the world through his eyes and his lens we come away
seeing Martin Parr - and ourselves - a little differently.
