Martin Parr

“I am not as cross about Thatcher now as I was in the '80s. Begrudgingly, I can see that some of her policies helped modernise Britain.”

“My black-and-white work is more of a celebration, and the color work became more of a critique of society.”

“Photographers never want to talk about the fact that they may well be in decline. It's the greatest taboo subject of all.”

“I avoid Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and if I need to communicate with someone, I email direct.”

“Part of the role of photography is to exaggerate, and that is an aspect that I have to puncture. I do that by showing the world as I really find it.”

“My father was an obsessive bird-watcher. The genes of observation passed down.”

“When I am in London, all I do is mix with other people in the arts.”

“My biggest television weakness is 'Dragons' Den.'”

“I love curating, because I'm lucky and privileged that I have a platform and I can share my discoveries with other people.”

“Tourism is the biggest industry in the world.”

“I would urge everyone to start looking at the world in a different way. Spend some time looking at everyday objects, at their design, their shape, their individual characteristics. Think ahead and imagine their significance.”

“My profile is bigger in Europe than it is in the U.K.”

“Sometimes you feel uncomfortable taking a photograph, but that's all part of the job.”

“I never think of photographs as being individual. Always as a group.”

“I always take photographs when I attend a funeral. Most people there know who I am and expect me to be there with my camera.”

“In New York, you have the street; in the U.K., we have the beach. I end up being like a migrating bird, being attracted to it.”

“I toyed with the notion of being an actor, and am so glad that this whim did not go any further.”

“TV-makers usually don't know much about photography.”

“One of the things I regret is that magazines now are so lifestyle-orientated that the opportunity to do bigger projects is gone. This is a serious misjudgment on the part of magazine editors.”

“I am not a huge follower of music and tend to like one CD and play it to death, usually when I am washing up.”