At first glance, Martin Parr's early photos don't look like anything much. None of the pyrotechnics of the later colour work, instead muted sometimes muddy greys. He is no Anselm Adams. But then you see a photo like the one below and you realise you are standing behind the eyes of a master photographer. The exhibition of his early work at Compton Verney, which Sally and I attended in the company of a group of people who could easily be Martin Parr subjects, showed a fully formed vision of the world - precise, spacious, formally beautiful, deeply empathetic, and very humorous. It made me wish that Ted Hughes, born up the road from where the photos were taken, had collaborated with him, as he did with Faye Godwin. I suspect though that Hughes would have been outgunned by the strange and beautiful photos at Compton Verney. The extraordinary portraits of Sarah Hannah Greenwood and her brother Charlie were new to me and worth the trip on their own.
Tom Greenwood cleaning, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire 1975, © Martin Parr
Cafe, Compton Verney, May 1st 2015
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