This weekend I took a trip down to Southend on Sea, like so many others, as the English Summer had arrived! As my partner and I parked up our Royal Enfield with the other Motorbikes, what became immediately apparent was the sense of déjà vu. As we looked around the seafront, at the fish and chip shops, the penny arcades and the slow burning skins I realised what is was. Martin Parr!
Everything we looked at resembled a photograph like that of Martin Parr’s. From the fish and chip containers left on the beach, to the crying children, to tea and cakes left by pensioners, it was as if we were viewing an exhibition rather than a place. What amazed me and still does, is that places like this prove the power of photography.
As more and more images are taken, published, exhibited and viewed on the web, our environment becomes an ever-developing collage of imagery. Our memories are based upon images rather than experiences. Once we visit those places, we are unable to see past what our memory recalls, those published pictures. What also becomes apparent is the inability to take a new picture, one where you aren’t just producing another Martin Parr.
Above picture copyright Melinda Gibson 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment