Mark ~ JerseyStyle Photography
Shooting from the hip
This isn’t a photograph by Martin Parr, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was. It looks like a photograph by Martin Parr. It has that ‘world-aslant’ perspective for which Martin Parr is famous. You know what I mean — clearly a documentary photo, but with a sensibility that’s critical without being judgmental. Like it was shot by an alien who’s been living on Earth for half a decade and keeps sending photographs back to his home planet with comments like No, seriously, the people on this world deliberately toast themselves with radiant stellar energy — I am NOT making this up.
Martin Parr (and it’s critically important to use both his names — not Martin, and sure as hell not Mr. Parr) understands that detail and exaggeration are important in photography. That ankle bracelet, that astonishing depth of tan, that pink terry cloth (is that terry cloth? I don’t know, so let’s say it is, shall we?), all those details serve to remind us that photographs of strangers are works of fiction. We don’t know this woman’s true story; but those details allow us to make up a story for her.
Another photographer, Alec Soth, described Martin Parr as “the Jay-Z of documentary photography.” I have no idea what that means, but it sounds true. And if it’s true that Martin Parr is the Jay-Z of photography, then I feel safe in suggesting that Mark Krajnak is Reasonable Doubt.
In fact, I’d also suggest Reasonable Doubt would be a good title for this photograph. I think Martin Parr might agree.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
