Quick and dirty. That is how Martin Parr describes his basic method of taking a portrait. A tour around London with him is remarkably fast; all the more impressive given that Parr now moves with the help of a walking frame, following cancer treatment in 2021. He is both unassuming and hyper-alert, good-humoured and unnervingly blunt; and deadly accurate with his Canon 5D Mark IV. Stand there. Hold this. Don’t smile. Point. Click. Flash. Is that it? Yes and here is your soul back, thanks for the loan.
‘You have to photograph what you believe in,’ he says. ‘If you’re doing serious photography, you’ve got to nd an aspect of society or nature that you identify with.’
