A Photographic Life

• A Photographic Life-395.5: 'Martin Parr 1952-2025: "Okay. Next Photo. Which One?"'

  In this special episode Grant shares his personal memories of photographer Martin Parr and reflects on his influence on contemporary documentary photography. Martin Parr Born in Epsom, Surrey, Parr wanted to become a documentary photographer from the age of fourteen and cited his grandfather, George Parr, an amateur photographer and fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, as an early influence. However, it was not until he was introduced to the work of Tony Ray Jones by Creative Camera and Album editor and writer Bill Jay (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=74s) at a talk whilst Parr was studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic that he identified how his career as a photographer would develop within documentary practice. Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic from 1970 to 1973 with contemporaries Daniel Meadows and Brian Griffin.  Parr and Meadows collaborated on various projects,including working at Butlin's holiday camps as roving photographers. They were part of a new wave of documentary photographers, and the 'New British Photography'. In 1975 Parr moved to Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire where he would complete his first body of work and spent five years photographing rural life in the area. He photographed in black-and-white, creating his series The Non-Conformistswas widely exhibited at the time and published as a book in 2013. In 1980 Parr married Susan Mitchell and, for her work, they moved to the west coast of Ireland where he set up a darkroom in Boyle, County Roscommon. In 1982 they moved to Wallasey, England, and he switched permanently to colour photography. During the summers of 1983, 1984 and 1985 he photographed working-class people at the seaside in nearby New Brighton. This work was published in the book The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton (1986) and exhibited in Liverpool and London. He and his wife moved to Bristol in 1987, and he began his next major project, on the middle class, who were at that time becoming increasingly affluent under Thatcherism. He photographed middle-class activities such as shopping, dinner parties and school open days, predominantly around Bristol and Bath which was published as his next book The Cost of Living (1989). Between 1987 and 1994 Parr travelled internationally to make his next major series, a critique of mass tourism, published as Small World in 1995. Between 1995 and 1999 he made the series Common Sense about global consumerism. Common Sense was an exhibition of 350 prints, and a book published in 1999. The exhibition was first shown in 1999 and was staged simultaneously in forty-one venues in seventeen countries. Parr joined Magnum Photos as an associate member in 1988. The vote on his inclusion as a full member in 1994 was divisive, with Philip Jones Griffiths circulating a plea to other members not to admit him. Parr achieved the necessary two-thirds majority by one vote. Alongside his photography he was a passionate collector and critic of photobooks. His collaboration with the critic Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History (in three volumes) covers more than 1,000 examples of photobooks from the 19th century through to the present day. The first two volumes took eight years to complete. The Martin Parr Foundation was founded in 2014 and opened in Bristol in 2017. The Foundation houses Parr's own archive, and his collection of prints and book dummies made by other photographers—mainly British and Irish photography, and work by several photographers from abroad who have photographed in the UK. There is a gallery open to the public—its first exhibition was Parr's Black Country Stories —and it is a hub for talks, screenings and events. Parr was the Foundation's main source of income. He was diagnosed with cancer in May 2021, and died at his home in Bristol on 6 December 2025. https://martinparr.com ©Grant Scott 2025

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• A Photographic Life-395: 'Bill Goes to Paris Photo, AI Disagreement and Listening to Experts'

  In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with editor, writer and curator of photography Bill Shapiro. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Bill comment on the photographic environment as they see it. This month Bill reflects on his recent trip to Paris Photo, whilst he and Grant lock horns over AI and agree about the importance of experts. Mentioned in this episode: Jack Davison www.jackdavison.co.uk Marie-Laure de Decker www.mep-fr.org/en/event/marie-laure-de-decker-3/ Nino Migliori www.keithdelellisgallery.com/artists/nino-migliori Erica Lennard https://ericalennardphotography.com Fred Herzog www.equinoxgallery.com/our-artists/fred-herzog/ Emma Hartvig www.emmahartvig.com Kit Young www.kityoung.co.uk Henry O. Head www.henryohead.com Michael Wolf https://photomichaelwolf.com The Hulett Collection https://thehulettcollection.com Louis Stettner https://louisstettner.co Todd Webb www.toddwebbarchive.com Phillip Toledano https://mrtoledano.com Sean Scully www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sean-scully-1917 Paul Strand www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/paul-strand www.bluephoto.co Bill Shapiro Bill Shapiro served as the Editor-in-Chief of LIFE, the legendary photo magazine; LIFE’s relaunch in 2004 was the largest in Time Inc. history. Later, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Shapiro is the author of several books, among them Gus & Me, a children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and, What We Keep, which looks at the objects in our life that hold the most emotional significance. A fine-art photography curator for New York galleries and a consultant to photographers, Shapiro is also a Contributing Editor to the Leica Conversations series. He has written about photography for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Every Friday — more or less — he posts about under-the-radar photographers on his Instagram feed, where he’s @billshapiro. Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. ©Grant Scott 2025

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• A Photographic Life-394: ‘Jeanloup Sieff, Corinne Day, Rankin and Listeners Letters'

  In episode 394 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the big and small things that impact on the everyday engagement we all have with photography. Mentioned in this episode: https://jeanloupsieff.com www.corinneday.com www.rankinphoto.co.uk Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s book Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is now on sale. © Grant Scott 2025

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• A Photographic Life-393: See/Saw with Fiona Hayes 'Cecil Beaton, Boris Mikhailov and Futurespective'

  In this monthly conversation series Grant Scott speaks with art director, lecturer and creative director Fiona Hayes. In an informal conversation each month Grant and Fiona comment on the photographic environment as they see it through the exhibitions, magazines, talks and events that Fiona has seen over the previous weeks. Mentioned in this episode: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/boris-mikhailov-ukrainian-diary www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2025/cecil-beaton/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLjkQyp2Bjk www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/futurespective Fiona Hayes Fiona Hayes is an art director, designer, consultant and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience in publishing, fashion and the art world. She has been a magazine art director ten times: on Punch, Company, Eve, the British and Russian editions of Cosmopolitan, House & Garden,GQ India (based in Mumbai), MyselfGermany (in Munich), and Russian Vogue (twice). Between 2013 and 2019, as Art Director of New Markets and Brand Development for Condé Nast International, based in London and Paris, she oversaw all the company’s launches – 14 magazines, including seven editions of Vogue. She still consults as Design Director at Large for Vogue Hong Kong. In 2002 she founded independent photography magazine DayFour, publishing it continuously until 2012. She is Co-Author and Art Director of The Fashion Yearbook, and creative director of books for South African media consultancy Legacy Creates. Outside the publishing world, she has been Art Director of contemporary art auction house Phillips de Pury in London and New York, and Consultant Art Director of Russian luxury retail group Mercury/TSUM. (Fiona would like to point out she is not Russian: she is proudly Irish and studied Visual Communication and History of Art and Design at NCAD Dublin.) She currently divides her time between design consultancy for commercial clients, and lecturing at Oxford Brookes University, the Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design, London, Nottingham Trent University, Ravensbourne University, and Leeds University. She lives in West London. @theartdictator Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s next book is Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is on sale now wherever you buy your books. ©Grant Scott 2025

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• A Photographic Life-392: 'Dissapearing Photographers, Social Media Confusion and Big Screens'

  In episode 392 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the big and small things that impact on the everyday engagement we all have with photography. Mentioned in this episode: Huger Foote https://hugerfoote.com Gille Tapie www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/photographers/gilles-tapie/ Dewey Nicks https://deweynicks.com Javier Vallonrat www.mfilomeno.com/artist/javier-vallhonrat/gallery/commercial-2/ Michel Momy https://michelmomy.photography/?photo=0 Dr.Grant Scott After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018. Scott’s book Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is now on sale. © Grant Scott 2025

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