The English Magnum Photographer Martin Parr breezed into my University today to talk to us about his photography and his collections. Once the lecture theatre at the LCC was bursting at the seams with bodies, they shut the doors with security outside to prevent a complete overflow of people despite there being plenty more trying to get in.

Up to this point I can’t say I was a huge of fan of his work. I mean, I liked some of it, but I could easily leave a lot of it too. My curiosity got the better of me though and I had to go see what he had to say.

He began by speaking at length about his upcoming exhibition called ‘Parrworld’ which was of something other than his own photography. He has spent many years collecting odd pieces of memorabilia. Anything from metre high packets of cheesy snacks from the US to Thatcher toilet paper to Saddam Hussein watches. Of the latter, he believes he has the biggest collection of anyone on the planet! His collection also extended to Osama Bin Laden Cola Candy and a Gulf War board game with photos of George Bush Snr and Saddam on the box.

After hearing about his eclectic mix of artefacts, his photography actually began to make a little bit more sense to me. One of his biggest collections was of Postcards dating from the birth of postcards to about the 80’s. Some of his own photography I thought reflected some of the original ideals of postcard photography which was simple social documentary.

He has a good, almost dark sense of humour seeking to find irony in his imagery. Defining a moment in time with his photography. Perhaps the ultimate irony is my rubbish picture of the event above! A photographer taking a picture of a world renowned photographer and it being up there as being one of the worst pictures ever taken! Let’s not go there.

Anyway, I really enjoyed his talk. It’s a pity the questions asked of him at the end weren’t particularly interesting. “Why didn’t you ask one?” I can hear you say. I couldn’t think of anything very intelligent, so I kept my mouth closed! Am I Martin Parr convert? Hmmm… not sure. Perhaps now I have a better idea of context in regard to his photography and it therefor makes more sense, but I still wouldn’t call myself a huge fan despite being a big fan of the the Magnum posse. But he is obviously hugely successful and popular and just goes to show that photography – like any artform – is incredibly subjective.

Finally, here is a video taken at the LCC briefly talking about his collection.