Martin Parr: how to take better holiday photographs
Don’t be scared of photographing a storm-out, crying fit or strop, advises the Magnum photographer…
Jurmula, Latvia, 1999. Photograph: ©Martin Parr / Magnum
Most family photo albums are a form of propaganda, where the family looks perfect and everyone is smiling: we try to create fabrications about who we are. But if you’re doing a portrait of someone, ask them not to smile. You will get a much more dignified, interesting portrait, and it won’t look like a family snap.