I’m interested to see more of his “Last Parking Spot” project, even though you can tell, without seeing an image from it, that it’s completely conceptual.

Then again, what does conceptual mean, anyway?

I’m sure photographers all have some pictures that they imagine and hope to actually take one day; and some familiar themes and techniques that they’re drawn to; but I think there’s a third category - every so often a picture that you could never have imagined presents itself, one that seems to come from outer space. In other words, you have abandoned your preconceptions for a moment, just started looking anew and see something that you find exciting. And that picture can lead somewhere else.

But because Parr knows exactly what he expects to find in Benidorm, Mexico, Ascot or wherever he seems to have lost the capacity for that wonder or surprise.

Also, the blank, posed portraits seem like an attempt to balance up the frustration of the “back of heads/never seeing a face” sort of approach that Parr seems to often employ, e.g. in Think of England.