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In this instalment of Sofa Sessions, Martin Parr is in conversation with the photographer John Bulmer. They talk about John's initial fascination with the mechanical side of photography and his revelatory discovery of 'the image'. We also hear about John's love for the North of England, the challenges of shooting in colour and his transition into filmmaking.

This sofa session was filmed in March 2021.

Signed copies of John's book 'The North' are available from the Martin Parr Foundation's bookshop: https://www.martinparrfoundation.org/product/the-north-signed/

Produced by the Martin Parr Foundation.
Filmed and edited by Alexander Parkyn-Smith
https://www.instagram.com/alexanderparkynsmith/

Alec Soth discusses the groundbreaking exhibition "The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort" and subsequent books by some of its female contributors. Books discussed are:

"Present Tense" by JoAnn Verburg
"Theater of Manners" by Tina Barney
"Reading Raymond Carver" & "Real Life Dramas" by Mary Frey
"Animals" & "Perfectible Worlds" by Sage Sohier
"Taken From Memory" by Sheron Rupp
"Wood River Blue Pool" by Jo Ann Walters
"Pleasant Street" & "Vacation" by Judith Black
"Family Photographs" by Joan Albert
"At Twelve" & "Immediate Family" by Sally Mann
"In My Room," "Living Solo" & "Middle Aged Men" by Adrienne Salinger

Alec Soth discusses his most recent book, "A Pound of Pictures," and some of the publications that have influenced it. Books discussed are:

⁣Unholy Erection and Cemetery by Ed Panar
The Image To Come by Magnum Photos
New Color / New Work by Sally Euclair
RFK Funeral Train by Paul Fusco
Walker Evans At Work and American Photographs by Walker Evans
Cape Light by Joel Meyerowitz
Dream Street by W. Eugene Smith
IOWA by Nancy Rexroth
The Fifties Calendar For 1983 by Sid Kaplan
The Coral Sea by Patti Smith
Uncommon Places by Stephen Shore
Portraits in Life and Death by Peter Hujar
Real Dreams by Duane Michals
The Democratic Forest by William Eggleston
M'as-tu vue by Sophie Calle
Portraits of a Reputation by Francesca Woodman
Allen Ginsberg Photographs

Purchase "A Pound of Pictures": https://mackbooks.co.uk/products/a-pound-of-pictures-br-alec-soth

Alec Soth discusses the pivotal role that informational gaps play in our appreciation of photographs. Books discussed are:

Recollections Recreations by Hollis Frampton (1984)
The Night Albums by Kate Palmer Albers (2021)
Evidence by Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan (2007)
Japanese Photobooks of the 1960's and '70s (2009)
Chizu by Kikuji Kawada (2021)

Also discussed is Nostalgia, a film by Hollis Frampton (1971)

For more information about Kikuji Kawada and The Map (Chizu), watch this documentary: https://vimeo.com/408239704

A preview of my new project opening at:

Sean Kelly (NYC): Jan 14 – Feb 26
Weinstein Hammons (Minneapolis): Jan 28 - March 26
Fraenkel Gallery (SF): Feb 3 – March 26

Preorder the book at MACK: https://tinyurl.com/2p8mwupy