Portrait+Photographers

= __Portrait Photographers__ =

IRVING PENN Irving Penn (1917-2009) was a famous American portrait photographer of the 20th century. In his lifetime, he photographed for over 50 years, and also pursued other interests including but not limited to fashion photography, still life and photographic essays. However, he is remembered best for his portrait photography. He was a chief photographer for Vogue Magazine for many years, and his photos were published on the covers of more than 150 Vogue issues. He skillfully adapted his photography to reflect the changes of the times through his magazine covers, and helped shape popular culture through Vogue.

His style was known to possess a certain subtle beauty that louder, brighter images could not achieve. Whether it was still life, portrait photography or his photojournalist works on his travels around the world, he preferred his photos to be simple- a plain black or white backdrop that wouldn't take away from the photo's subject. He was also well known for his unique style of darkroom technique that created much clearer, crisper images than the standard but was also difficult and time consuming to develop perfectly. Below are some of his works:





Both those photos reflect his talent in portraying smooth, graceful elegance through clothing and postures that show off the women's lines. Notice that the backgrounds in both photos are very plain and simple, the former being an example of how Penn often used a "corner of a wall" approach in positioning his models, either people or still life. In both the images, Penn also incorporated a lot of contrast in colour (shade) blocking, as well as the appearance of textures with the fabrics of the first model's dress, and the second's hat and scarf. It is important to see that the models in Penn's images had a modest yet still elegant image about them- there were no wild or extravagant elements to their calm beauty.

EVE ARNOLD Born in 1912 in Philadelphia, Eve Arnold first started to photograph in 1946. By 1948 she had begun to work with Alexei Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research in New York. In the 1950s she was active around the United States, and was one of the most influential photographers representing the Magnum style, and was famous for her photographs of Marilyn Munroe. but in 1962 she moved to the UK, where she would spend the majority of the rest of her life there (the two exceptions being when she went to the US and China to write books on each country. In the United Kingdom, she took many photos of Queen Elizabeth II. Arnold also spent much of her life exploring topics such as birth, family, tragedy and racism. She worked as a lead photographer for Life Magazine, and the Sunday Times magazine in London. Other areas of her specialty included celebrities, statesmen and women around the world.





Both of the above photos are good examples of Arnold's expressive style; the glamourous side and the side that represents everyday life. The above photo was of Marilyn Munroe, a popular symbol of beauty and fame in the 1950s, while the bottom one captured the image of a bar girl. Both images reveal deep emotion behind the faces of the models, and depict the contrasting yet similar nature of women in such different places and positions. [] [] []