Irving Penn

Irving Penn was born in 1917.  In the early stages of his career, he studied under Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School. He graduated in 1938.  As he first became interested in photography, he became known for post World War II fashion photography.  He then started to work for Vogue Magazine.  In 1950 he married his favorite model, Lisa Fonssagrives with whom he had one son.  Three years later, Penn founded his own studio. He 

has also published many books on photography. 

While working at Vogue, Penn was known for placing his subjects against grey, simple backgrounds.  He wanted to create a more dramatic affect, and draw the viewers to the subject's expression.  Most of his portraits are lighted with natural window light.  Penn seems to pay close attention to clarity and composition while shooting.  He also makes sure to get a correct arangement of objects and people in the frame. I think his fashion photographs are stunning and makes one feel emotion from the subject, and not just their clothes.  His regular portraits might just be of normal people, but he makes them look just as stunning as if they were in a magazine.   Penn's use of natural lighting gives character to his portraits and makes them seem alive and natural.

This is a more abstract shot.  The focus is on the wine bottle, but it seems as if he wants to portray the story of the characters in the background.  Instead of putting them front and center, it makes the story more interesting to look at through a wine bottle.  It makes you think more.

This is a very interesting portrait.  The lighting (probably natural-from a window maybe) is perfect, bringing out the highlights on the left side of his face, while the other is in complete shadow.  His eye is staring directly at you, which makes it intimidating but also makes one feel connected to this portrait.  The contrast in his wrinkles is also really distinct.

I'm guessing this is one of Penn's fashion photographs.  His subject is placed against a simple background, putting all the focus on the model.  He likes his viewers not only to look at the clothes, but the emotion of the model.  In this case it is hard to determine the expression because it is covered by the net, but I think it makes it more interesting.  Maybe this model's story is that she wants to be covered, so no one knows her true story.  I think this photograph is stunning.  I love it.    

Penn shot, and was know for, his subjects shoved in this corner.  It adds an interesting touch to the overall image.  It is cool how the subject is in all black so you can't really see any definition in his shape (or is it a girl?).  Towards the end, the subject fades into the ground.  It is also really cool how it is really light at the top then fades to black.   

It's Truman Capote!  Anyway, the lighting is awesome.  It really brings out the highlights just right.  In this one, you can really see the emotion in Penn's subject, which is what he wanted.  Truman is obviously deep in thought, and maybe worried about something if you look at the creases in his forehead.