The Last Resort: scribbles, thoughts of street photography, Martin Parr & death.

Life is a journey, you assume the start and kinda know the end, everything in between is a scribbled drawing of nonsense. A myriad of lines and circles a complete mess of nothing and everything. The challenge for photographers is to try and make sense of it all.

I often lambast older photographers for being so lucky to have captured a world that we no longer live in. That nostalgic feel of looking back into a world that seems so far away. The clothes, decor, attitudes, cars all play a part in adding to a narrative of nostalgia. Lives long since moved on since that moment was captured but the most important part is the people.

In my mind I’m am one who perpetually lives in the past and cannot dream about the future, which makes works such as Martin Parr’s “ The Last resort” such an important piece of work for me. A series of photos taken in New Brighton, It’s my childhood, it’s where I grew up and when I grew up shown in amazing technicolour. Martin captured such moments of reality that they are my vivid memories of the past.

I have to remind myself that this was the world as it was found, for Martin it was the here and now. It’s true craft to be able to show life in it’s true rawness, unapologetic and human, whilst pointing out the absurdity of the situation and finding humour in the frame too.

Martin in this series seemed to have the ability to step back and see the jumble of life and make sense of it for all of us to see, they only seem to get better with age. I think this is the job of the photographer or at least some of my own philosophy is to be able to clearly and effectively tell a story with a still image.

I love to go to new Brighton to take photos, it has a special place in my heart. Since Martin Parr left it has been through a regeneration but it still holds it’s uniquely photogenic qualities.

New Brighton is situated on the Wirral peninsula, sandwiched between Liverpool and Wales. It has a very picturesque lighthouse that is photographed at length but what peaks my interest is the Liverpool industrial heartland and docks that dominates any beach scene, for me there is an amazing juxtaposition of contrast from rising mountains of scrap metal, docklands and the beach attire people soaking up the sun.

It’s something that has always driven me even before photography to see the beauty and the reality of life so closely entwined together in such close proximity. I remember first seeing some of Mitch Epstein’s work in the Tate and marvelling at the beauty of life existing so intensely with industry. It speaks of a human condition to make the best of what we have and also fills me with great sadness and hopelessness of big industry.

*Amos Coal Power Plant, Raymond City, West Virginia 2004*. From the series American Power. *Mitch Epstein.*

This is something I’ve always strived to find, it’s the beauty of life mixed with the undercurrent mundanity and the reality that we are all accustomed to. To step back and view it as a whole.

Life is a myriad of scribbles, everyday no matter where you live something interesting happens at least once, guaranteed. This exponentially grows in more built up areas. It’s the responsibility of a photographer to find them, make sense of them and show others how they see the world.

In terms of street photography it’s sometimes being lucky to be in the right place at the right time or it’s having a unique perspective to see life in a different way which can make even the mundane seem interesting. Street photography should always tell a story. It should have a clear narrative and subject, often some photos don’t work out as you would hope but this is what makes street photography a hard discipline.

Street photography in the modern era shouldn’t be that much different from the times of The Last Resort, though with social media we consume it much faster and create it a lot more. I feel we have a bigger moral responsibility of what we chose to upload. I know that I have been guilty of uploading b-roll to social media just for engagement. A peak behind the curtain of creativity that not every photo will work the way you hope but ultimately they can be photos that don’t say very much and have no real value in the world and possibly shouldn’t be shared.

Recently I’ve been printing off a lot of my work and it changes the dynamic of how you view it. It gives it a tangible sense of time and space of an object that now exists outside of phone & computer screens, it seems less throwaway and increases the importance of choosing the right material to make it to print. It has made me slow down as a photographer and consider my shots a lot more of the people and places I’m capturing.

*The Unbearable Weight of Being Human. 2025*

We are nearly 40 years since The Last Resort and I’d argue that life hasn’t changed that much since. Yes the clothes, cars and consumption of media are different but the life you find is still as vibrant, interesting, heartbreaking and heartwarming as it always has been. The people are what make it.

I often find myself trying to remove modern artefacts from my work, trying not to capture objects that time stamp my work, but I know these things will contain nostalgia in many years time and are as important to document. We may see ourselves on the precipice of modern living but soon it’ll be buried in the past, life will have moved on and only through street photography of our times will we be able to see it.

The circles all repeat and humans will always be humans So grasp the beauty and mundanity whilst we have it in our life time like it is the last resort as it’ll always be there in a different guise but we will not.

God, that was a cheery ending. Much love.

The Last Resort: scribbles, thoughts of street photography, Martin Parr & death.

All you need is love: Beatles week, UKIP & plastic flags.