Martin Parr: The Photographer Who Inspired Me To Pick Up a Camera

Dec 14, 2025

Matt Growcoot

Two young children stand on a promenade by the sea, eating ice cream with messy faces. A red car is parked nearby, and a lighthouse and pavilion are visible in the background. The girl holds a teddy bear. — GB. England. New Brighton. From ‘The Last Resort’. 1983-85.

Martin Parr made a huge impression on me early on in life, in no small part because his most famous photos were shot very close to my home city of Liverpool.

The Last Resort was Parr’s project looking at New Brighton, a northern British coastal town meant to replicate the far more famous Brighton on the south coast of England. It never did take off.

Parr visited New Brighton in the 1980s during its alleged heyday. The photos are grim, yet utterly fascinating as he turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. I attended a talk by Parr in the summer of 2024 in which he admitted he would never have gotten away with the photos today.

A person sunbathes on a towel near a large excavator, while a child in pink plays beside the machine. Sand toys are scattered on the ground, and a man walks away toward the seaside promenade in the background. — GB. England. New Brighton. From ‘The Last Resort’. 1983-85.

He acknowledged that people have become suspicious of the camera, and in today’s society the idea of a stranger being able to take photographs of children in their bathing suits is utterly far-fetched.

His death at age 73 this past week did come as a shock. Although when I saw him speak live, he did make reference to an illness he had been suffering.

A group of people stand around a table where two men are seated, possibly at a signing event. One man leans in while others smile and take photos. The scene takes place indoors with bright lighting and a window in the background. — Here’s a terrible photo I took of Parr signing books when he did a talk at the Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham in 2024. But at least I shot it on film.

Very early on in my photography career, when I was still a teenager, I found myself traveling on the ferry across the Mersey to walk in Parr’s footsteps as I searched for my own interesting photos around New Brighton after being inspired by his work.

I wound up documenting abandoned shopping carts; the pictures caught the attention of my photography tutor, who encouraged me to pursue photography as a full-time career. Long story short: Without Parr and my teacher, I may never have become a photographer.

A rusty, broken shopping cart lies partially buried in wet sand on a beach, surrounded by small pebbles and debris. — A photo I made close to New Brighton circa 2006. The roll of film I shot that day turned out to be seminal.

Parr has taken criticism for his work, in particular The Last Resort. “There’s always been an element of controversy in my pictures,” he said while speaking to the The Architectural Review in 2020. “I never quite know why, because I’m just showing things as they are, or as I find them, and I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”

An elderly woman in a colorful dress sits on a lawn chair, her face obscured by a hanging Union Jack flag. People and a yellow van are visible in the background on a sunny day. — GB. England. Sedlescombe. British flags at a fair. 1995-1999.

A group of people in formal attire serve themselves food from a buffet table at a social gathering in a large, elegant room with tall windows and ornate walls. — GB. England. West Yorkshire. Todmorden. Mayor of Todmorden’s inaugural banquet. 1977

While some of my fellow Liverpudlians may be offended by The Last Resort, they are possibly my favorite photos of all time. I, like many other people, adore artistic photos of everyday people, and Parr was as good as any who has ever taken up the camera.

Image credits: Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation and Magnum Photos