Irving Penn
Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still-lifes. He is one of the great photographers of the 20th century. He’s renowned for breaking down the boundary between commercial and fine-art photography.
Irving Penn, Bee, New York, 1995
A picture of The Beauty series. I am impressed by the aesthetic—a perfect example of how to use lens language to demonstrate the information to the audience. Focus on the lips, and if the bee is seeking honey, then the mouse is a flower, obviously.
Salvador Dali (1947), Irving Penn © The Irving Penn Foundation
This one is probably the most famous surrealist painter Dali. The image was shot in a narrow aperture so the audience can see the depth. Shooting the narrow aperture to emphasize the figure is very common in his portrait photographing.
Cigarette No. 34, New York 1972, printed May 1974
This one is called ‘Cigarette.’ The cigarette was against this background that Penn learned in 1971 that his mentor, who was never without a cigarette—had died of cancer. In this case, he shot a group of cigarettes. He focuses on two decay cigarettes so that the audience can feel the pain behind his mentor’s death.
Italian Still Life (B), New York, 198
This one calls Italian still life very conceptualized, Irving focuses on demonstrating texture and contrast between different colors, so this one he underexposes to get the effect.
Vogue magazine
this one was published in Vogue magazine and didn’t have a title. A woman holds her head and looks at the camera. It is a good example of how to get a perfect highlight when underexposed. Basically, we can see how the highlights create contrast and emphasis on the figure’s expression.
Red Rooster, NewYork, 2004
This one is called the red rooster illustrated in 2004. A rooster with a Vivid expression gives intent to Humanization. Penn controls the timing so that the rooster looks at the camera.
Irving Penn’s wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, poses for ‘Harlequin Dress’ (1950). Courtesy of Conde Nast
The figure is Penn’s wife. Close shot the figure with a powerful Muzzy effect by the cloth in visual, rare contrast between the figure and background, Penn probably set in underexposed with a wide aperture.
White Face with Color Smears, New York, 1986
This one is one of the portrait series, and the brush chocks are after effect. Very conceptualized.
GIRL BEHIND WINE BOTTLE, NEW YORK, 1949
This one uses a wide aperture to demonstrate the figure at different distances. The bottom reflects the figure in the foreground, and the figure in the background is not in focus.
Woman in Chicken Hat (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), New York, ca. 1949
This one is Woman in a Chicken hat, which is also a close shot portrait. The timing always matters to make sure the figures and the chicken look in the same direction.
no title
Another shot in Vogue, very exaggerated and conceptualized. The figure was behind two glasses, and the reflection illustrates big eyes; also, the light shading shadow gives the image a perfect composition.
Pose series
The next three images come from the pose series. The figures on this series stand in the corner; thus, it creates a sense of space and creates contrast. The light in the background is always darker than the light in the figures. At this point, the camera will capture the contrast and the figure’s gesture easily.
Irving Penn -Miles Davis’ hand
This one is the shot of Davis’s hand. A series of close shots focus on the contrast and the textures on the one hand. Just like a sketch, find the darkest light and the lightest dark.
Overall, Penn is a very conceptualized photographer. It reflects on either his still life or portrait photography. Even though he posts most of his image in Vogue, I still can not find too many pop elements, and his technique is very close to sketching.