The English Seaside

[Ed Blagden]

I haven't posted for a while, and I feel the urge to be criticized.  A little series I took one day last summer in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

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[tokengirl]

The second to last one would make Martin Parr proud.

[Rob C]

The second to last one would make Martin Parr proud.

Nah, not enough flash.

Rob C

[RSL]

The second to last one would make Martin Parr proud.

I agree with Toke. Garry Winogrand would have loved it too.

Sorry, Ed. Afraid I can't criticize. They all look good to me.

[button]

Great work, Ed.  I see a personal style emerging here, which I really like.  

John

[cmi]

They are interesting look at for a longer time and to explore, and for some I come up with stories. E.g. in #2 I think these are couples so I begin to wonder who belongs to whom... I also like how #4 returns in #5. I cannot spot clear favourites but I agree that #1 doesnt quite fit in, wich does not mean it is bad.

[Ed Blagden]

The second to last one would make Martin Parr proud.

Thanks - I didn't know anything about Martin Parr until Russ pointed out a couple of month back that another of my pictures (taken on the same day as this series - I didn't want to double post, but here it is again) was rather Parr-esque, so I had a look.  And now I'm a Parr fanatic.  If I could be any photographer in the world, I'd be Parr - he is just unspeakably brilliant.

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Nah, not enough flash.

Rob C

Well I did use the fill light slider in LR   Anyway my flash is broken (not a huge loss).

I agree with Toke. Garry Winogrand would have loved it too.

Sorry, Ed. Afraid I can't criticize. They all look good to me.

Thanks Russ - appreciated.  Also, thanks for introducing me to another photographer I'm not familiar with.  I looked at some of his photos on the net and I see what you mean.  I'll study.

Great work, Ed. I see a personal style emerging here, which I really like.

John

Thank you John.  This is what I'm trying to achieve - images which are obviously mine.

I cannot spot clear favourites but I agree that #1 doesnt quite fit in, wich does not mean it is bad.

I agree with this - #1 happened to be taken on the same day but doesn't belong in this particular series.  This is actually one of my favourites... I was trying to echo HCB's Picnic on the banks or the Marne, which is in my opinion the best of his best.  But I agree, it belongs elsewhere.


Ed

[Rob C]

Well I did use the fill light slider in LR   Anyway my flash is broken (not a huge loss).

Ed

Ed -  just to make sure you understood: my remark about flash had little to do with your picture; it had everything to do with Martin Parr whose shots in the English seaside resorts became a sort of trademark whose principal characteristic, in my opinion only, probably, was that of harsh flash lighting which did nothing for the art of photography but everything to make the subjects look even more gross than they had to. Cruel as Arbus, I think.

Rob C

[Ed Blagden]

Ed -  just to make sure you understood: my remark about flash had little to do with your picture; it had everything to do with Martin Parr whose shots in the English seaside resorts became a sort of trademark whose principal characteristic, in my opinion only, probably, was that of harsh flash lighting which did nothing for the art of photography but everything to make the subjects look even more gross than they had to. Cruel as Arbus, I think.

Rob C

Don't worry, I got your point first time round, and I took it in the right spirit (I think).  Although I have never heard Martin Parr's style described as cruel before.

My own take on Parr's style is a bit different.  By using flash plus high saturation film, his photos show a kind of hyper-reality which isn't quite real any more.  I believe he is heavily influenced by early seaside postcards, so his images are often garish and rather gross.  But that's what I like about his work.  Each to his own I suppose.

Ed