A day trip to Bristol

Way back in 2018, there was a photography exhibition in Bristol that I really wanted to see. It was an exhibition at the Martin Parr foundation of some of the Magnum Swaps photos by David Hurn. David Hurn is a British photographer born in Wales and who became an member of Magnum in the 1960s and is considered one of the UK’s most influential reportage photographers. Over his career as a photographer he set up a unique arrangement where he swaps one of his favorite prints with that of another photographer. It started as a cheeky request as a young photographer and has grown into an extensive collection of extremely interesting photos from some of the worlds best photographers. If you want to know more there is a brilliant article here: Magnum Swaps

It is one of those things that you just have to go to see. Even if you have to drive 4 hours each way in a day. The opportunity to see these photos and hear they story behind the swap is not going to coma along that often, and 4 hours driving is not *that* much…

So up I got and off I went, finding my way across the country to the Paintworks area of Bristol where the Martin Parr Foundation gallery is situated. The gallery is a little off the beaten track, well, it appeared to be from a non-locals perspective, but once I found it, the exhibition was well worth it! The photos were (as expected) extremely interesting and varied, and (unexpectedly) there was a copy of one of the most influential photos from when I was growing up.

That photo taken in Tienanmen square. The one entitled Tank Man. That on its own was worth the journey. I didn’t take very many pictures in the gallery its self, it is not really on taking detailed photographs of other people’s work, just one or two from a distance, to remind me I was there 🙂