Irving Penn’s work made it clear that he used many elements to convey his mind. All photos were black and white. There were many great things about the photographs. For me, my favorite element was his use of the room. I don’t really see it that often. When I think of a corner of a room or where the walls meet, I think it is limiting. It closes your perspective. Penn uses rooms as another tool. It’s basically a landscape. I feel like he uses the walls to give even more focus on his objects. For example, my eyes would be drawn towards where the walls go. That was definitely something I would consider doing in my next photographs of still objects.

For Penn’s portraits, it becomes evident how lighting can create beautiful photos. It definitely reminded me of my favorite black and white movies. Casablanca came into my mind when I viewed specific portraits. Those portraits with light twinkling off the subjects eyes while mainly the rest of under a shadow. It surprised me also when I saw that some subjects were not even posing. I thought they were a big risk as a photographer to put out under their name.