Irving Penn

Ballet Theater
New York, 1947

Mrs. Amory Carhart
New York 1947

Irving Penn was born June 16, 1917 and passed away October 7, 2009.  A fashion and portraiture photographer, he was known as the first photographer to place his subjects against plain white or gray backgrounds successfully.  He was able to embellish the subject or clothing by using this simple method, and I believe it also brings the details forward by leaving a bare background.  This helps the focal point to be achieved without much clutter.  However, such an arrangement does not leave much room for any type of story telling.  The model is the model and the clothes are the clothes.  They must speak for themselves.