Irving Penn

This week we was asked to research the styles of portraits by Irving Penn and David Bailey.

Who is Irving Penn?

Irving Penn was one of the best photographers of our time. He primarily focused on portrait photograph, shooting photographs for Vogue as well as having work within the Museum of Modem Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of Amercan Art, and the Balitmore Museum of Art.[1]

What was his style?

From looking at images that Irving Penn has taken I can tell he liked using his black and white, however he uses in a way that it creates a sense of narrative behind the photograph, the mosels are always looking either at something leaving you wondering what is happening behind the camera.

[2]

[3]

 

I feel these two images have a clear representation of what I mean they both feel mysterious and you want to know what they are posing how they are. However its not only that, technically this are fantastic. Irving Penn has a very good way of manipulating the dark to bring out the light within models faces. His photos tell a story, which is what I admire and would like to do within future work. he has managed to light each portrait so thatit has so much detail within it, you can work out every strand of hair, every wrinkle and every indent within someones face. you can tell he had the image in his head before he took them.

 

Irving Penn is Still life photography genuis. With every photo you see of his, they come to life you want to know what is happening behind the images, they are telling a story. He has bought the images to life.

 [4]

Still life photography is when you take pictures of inanimate objects, more typically a small group of objects. Still life photography is hard, it expects photographers to form life with their work. They do this through clever use of lighting and very good composition skills. Still Life Photographers make a picture rather than take a picture.
 

Irving Penn died in New York in 2009, his legacy will live through his photo's for many years to come.

 

 

"A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it; it is in one word, effective." —Irving Penn."

 

References

 

[1] - Encyclopædia Britannica. (2013). Irving Penn. Available: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/449988/Irving-Penn. Last accessed 16th October 2013.

 

[2] - Al Pacino. (1995). Irving Penn Portraits. Available: http://www.npg.org.uk/irvingpenn/list7.htm. Last accessed 16/10/2013

 

[3] - Jamiya Wilson. (2013). This Week in Photography History: The Birth of Irving Penn. Available: http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/06/20/this-week-in-photography-history-the-birth-of-irving-penn/. Last accessed 16th October 2013.

 

[4] - J Tennant. (N/A). Irving Penn and the Still Life Gallery. Available: http://photography.stwilfrids.com/still-life-resources-penn-gallery.html. Last accessed 16th October 2013.