Martin Parr: Beach Therapy

During his long career as a photographer, Martin Parr has always photographed on beaches, particularly in the UK. He has often used the beach as a laboratory to experiment with new cameras and techniques. So far example, when he changed from black and white to medium format colour in the early 80s his first major project was about New Brighton, a run down seaside resort near Liverpool. In recent months he has started exploring the beach with the aid of a telephoto lens. This lens is rarely used in the world of art and documentary photography so it is a challenge to find new ways of using it. Often this involves incorporating the vegetation on the perimeter with the beach as a backdrop, both in and out of focus. So over his long career he has tried everything from a close up macro lens, a medium format wide angled camera and finally this latest offering with the telephoto.