Irving Penn

Irving Penn is the still life photographer I want to talk about in this post. Born on June 16th, 1917, he was known for his photography in still life's, portraits, and even fashion. Throughout his long career he had many accomplishments, most notably he volunteered with the American Field Service to take pictures in warzones during World War II. He visited and took pictures of soldiers and their lives in both Italy and India. Eventually, he came back to America and continued to work with Vogue magazine and even founded his own studio. He was most well-known for his fashion photography as he took many pictures that continue to be praised long after he died, which was in 2009. 

The picture above is one my favorite still life works from Irving. There are a couple things that stand out to me in this photograph. The first is the color. I think the extreme contrast between the white background and the black faucet really creates a good focus on both the faucet itself and the water dripping out. The color of the water really took my attention away and brought it into focus seeing as it's the only thing with actual color and distinctly different from the rest of the photo. The photo makes something as mundane as water drops look exceptionally beautiful. This plays into the second thing I liked about the photo, which was the texture of the water. Irving emphasized the texture of the water, causing it to have a crystal-like nature. I think the way he did it made it look beautiful, as the water seems to sparkle and shine in a way that is not normally viewed.

The photo above is another one I like. The way the skull is centered and on top of a pot seems ominous to me. It might be because of the monochrome colors and the way the skull seems to look up and something somewhere, that a relatively normal picture becomes enhanced. Another thing I liked about this picture was the way the objects were stacked on each other. It kind of looks like a cross, which could be used to symbolize a grave. The little bottle on the side also seems to convey a deeper meaning in that the owner of the skull was poisoned or something. This may be me reading too much into it but I like that i can create my own interpretation for this picture.