Utterly Lazy and Inattentive (Hardcover)

Martin Parr

ISBN 10: 0241740827 / ISBN 13: 9780241740828

Published by Penguin Books Ltd, London, 2025

About this Item

Hardcover. **One of the most popular photographers on the planet recounts his life and art - and gives us a love song to queues, church fetes, and Spice Girls-themed crisps** _By the age of 14, I decided I would be a photographer. Its what I will do for the rest of my life, until I drop dead. I knew when I was very young. It was a definite decision. Dont ask me why. I just knew it was the right thing._ When Martin Parr was fourteen, his teacher wrote that he was utterly lazy and inattentive in a school report. He went on to become one of the most successful and sought-after photographers in the world. Martin has published over one hundred photobooks on many different subjects, from seaside resorts to smoking, over his career. Now, for the first and only time, Martin has produced a book about himself, telling his own story, in his own words. This autobiography combines over 150 of Martins photographs from his earliest snapshots to the work he is doing today with his recollections and reflections on each image. We meet a boy growing up in suburbia, who collects obsessively and notices everything. We see him exploding into the public consciousness in the late eighties with a series of startling, ultra-saturated colour images of the British seaside and scandalising the photography establishment in the process. We see society changing over the decades, from the demise of steam trains, through the opening of the first McDonalds in Moscow, to the transformations of the post-pandemic world. As Martin shares his story, his distinctive voice delicately captured by his friend, the writer Wendy Jones, he also reveals his approach to work and commissions; his tricks for gaining access and getting the shot; and he divulges his particular passions: for crowds and queues, fetes and placards, bad weather on beaches, and more. This is the definitive account of a great photographers career, curating the work that has defined his life. By looking at the world through his eyes and his lens, we come away seeing Martin Parr and ourselves a little differently. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780241740828

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Utterly Lazy and Inattentive (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241740827
• ISBN 13: 9780241740828
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

One of the most popular photographers on the planet recounts his life and art

When Martin Parr was fourteen, his teacher wrote that he was ‘utterly lazy and inattentive’ in a school report. He went on to become one of the most successful and sought-after photographers in the world. Martin has published over one hundred photobooks on many different subjects, from seaside resorts to smoking, over his career. Now, for the first and only time, Martin has produced a book about himself, telling his own story, in his own words.

This autobiography combines over 150 of Martin’s photographs – from his earliest snapshots to the work he is doing today – with his recollections and reflections on each image. We meet a boy growing up in suburbia, who collects obsessively and notices everything. We see him exploding into the public consciousness in the late eighties with a series of startling, ultra-saturated colour images of the British seaside – and scandalising the photography establishment in the process. We see society changing over the decades, from the demise of steam trains, through the opening of the first McDonald’s in Moscow, to the transformations of the post-pandemic world.

As Martin shares his story, his distinctive voice delicately captured by his friend, the writer Wendy Jones, he also reveals his approach to work and commissions; his tricks for gaining access and getting the shot; and he divulges his particular passions: for crowds and queues, fetes and placards, bad weather on beaches, and more.

This is the definitive account of a great photographer’s career, curating the work that has defined his life. By looking at the world through his eyes and his lens, we come away seeing Martin Parr – and ourselves – a little differently.

About the Author

Martin Parr was one of the world’s most famous and successful photographers, particularly celebrated as a searing and witty documentarian of British life.


Wendy Jones is a writer based in London. She is the author of seven books, including the bestselling Grayson Perry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl. She has a PhD from Goldsmiths on writing interview-based biographies, and her books have been published in eleven languages.