Guy Mancuso
Administrator, Instructor
Very said news here. One of my hero's.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_irving_penn
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_irving_penn
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Irving Penn passed away
- Thread starter Guy Mancuso
- Start date
D
ddk
Guest
Also one of mine...
N
nei1
Guest
Didnt know him but Im sure he was a good intelligent man ,you can feel it in his pictures.......this is one of my favourites.
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johnastovall
Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
That's an Avedon not a Penn
RICHARD AVEDON (1923-2004)
Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, August 1955
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MarkSaperstein
Member
He was a master not only behind the camera but in the darkroom as well. I saw a collection of his platinum palladium prints a few years ago, and they were probably the finest prints I have ever seen.
R
Ranger 9
Guest
If you can get the online New York Times, here's the four-page obituary.
Non-photographic, but something I liked: He married a fashion model -- not unusual -- but then stayed married to her for 42 years, until her death at age 80. "A devoted husband and friend," says the Times obit. I can think of worse epitaphs.
Looking through the portfolio accompanying the Times piece raised another thought: the pictures are brilliant, but there's almost nothing to them. Nobody would look at one and say, "OMG, how on earth did he shoot that?" Nobody would pay for a book of Irving Penn lighting diagrams. It would seem irrelevant and unnecessary; you can see everything you need to see just by looking. His work makes almost everything you see in today's commercial photography -- all those fawning "how it was done" features in PDN with the details of all the generators and flash heads and assistants -- seem overlit, overdone, and underthought.
This quality of sheer transparency, of being able to see right through the technique into the work, is something I also see in the photos of Elliot Erwitt, and also in the work of choreographer Merce Cunningham (another titan who died this year.) Imagine going to Las Vegas and seeing a very unusual magic act: The magician comes out and calmly explains exactly how he's going to do his next trick. He demonstrates it slowly, showing each step. He repeats the demonstration, pausing periodically to make sure you're not missing anything. He answers any questions until it's clear to everyone in the audience.
Then he does the trick -- and it's still amazing. That would be some kind of magician.
Non-photographic, but something I liked: He married a fashion model -- not unusual -- but then stayed married to her for 42 years, until her death at age 80. "A devoted husband and friend," says the Times obit. I can think of worse epitaphs.
Looking through the portfolio accompanying the Times piece raised another thought: the pictures are brilliant, but there's almost nothing to them. Nobody would look at one and say, "OMG, how on earth did he shoot that?" Nobody would pay for a book of Irving Penn lighting diagrams. It would seem irrelevant and unnecessary; you can see everything you need to see just by looking. His work makes almost everything you see in today's commercial photography -- all those fawning "how it was done" features in PDN with the details of all the generators and flash heads and assistants -- seem overlit, overdone, and underthought.
This quality of sheer transparency, of being able to see right through the technique into the work, is something I also see in the photos of Elliot Erwitt, and also in the work of choreographer Merce Cunningham (another titan who died this year.) Imagine going to Las Vegas and seeing a very unusual magic act: The magician comes out and calmly explains exactly how he's going to do his next trick. He demonstrates it slowly, showing each step. He repeats the demonstration, pausing periodically to make sure you're not missing anything. He answers any questions until it's clear to everyone in the audience.
Then he does the trick -- and it's still amazing. That would be some kind of magician.
M
meilicke
Guest
Lovely analogy.
N
nei1
Guest
thanks John what a silly thing,clicked without thinking.:shocked:
