Up and Down Peachtree: Photos of Atlanta

by Martin Parr

In this volume, which accompanies a massive exhibition scheduled for July 2012 at the High Museum of Art of Atlanta, Martin Parr explores his fascination with concepts such as leisure, consumption, communication, and how these themes play out in America. Martin Parr was born in Britain in 1952. Parr's early works in the 1970s are solely black and white photography, but after 1980 he switched to color film and continued his focus in color photography. His inspiration for color photography originated from the American photo-documentarists. In 1994 Parr became a member of Magnum Photographic Corporation.

Genres: Photography

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 2012

About the author

Martin Parr was born in Epsom, Surrey, UK in 1952. When he was a boy, his budding interest in the medium of photography was encouraged by his grandfather George Parr, himself a keen amateur photographer.

Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic, from 1970-1973. Since that time, Martin Parr has worked on numerous photographic projects. He has developed an international reputation for his innovative imagery, his oblique approach to social documentary, and his input to photographic culture within the UK and abroad.

In 1994 he became a full member of Magnum Photographic Corporation. In recent years, he has developed an interest in filmmaking, and has started to use his photography within different conventions, such as fashion and advertising.

In 2002 the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Media Museum initiated a large retrospective of Parr's work. This show toured Europe for the next 5 years.

Parr was appointed Professor of Photography in 2004 at The University of Wales Newport campus. He was Guest Artistic Director for Rencontres D'Arles in 2004. In 2006 he was awarded the Erich Salomon Prize and the resulting Assorted Cocktail show opened at Photokina. In 2008 he was guest curator at the New York Photo Festival, curating the New Typologies exhibition. At PhotoEspana, 2008, he won the Baume et Mercier award in recognition of his professional career and contributions to contemporary photography.

Reviews

[Nile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say but I think America completely defeats Martin Parr.

However, I think it's by seeing such a sauceless Parr display that I can finally put a finger on what is elicited by his photography: Parr finds the eccentricity in conformity, the personality people express when they think they're not expressing any.

America defeats Parr because there is no conformity culture. He can take a picture along the same lines as many taken in the UK or elsewhere in the world and it just doesn't land, not because of the framing, but because of the people. Too loud a culture, the conformity there is a feigned eccentricity, 'individualism', which is pastiche, leading to impotent differences.

A case of failure teaching more than success.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this weren't a reference book at the library so I could take it home and have high school flashbacks every day! Seriously though, really great photography even if it does make me nostalgic for my hometown.