Irving Penn
Irving Penn was a studio photographer. He liked studio photography because he could remove whatever he thought was not essential to the photo. I chose the image above as my inspiration because I love the lighting. I personally do not like portrait photography because I don’t like people. However, I do like dramatic lighting. I also considered who I wanted to photograph and how they would look best in a photo. I chose my mother as my subject. She can be a very intense and dramatic person so I thought that a black and white studio portrait with dramatic lighting would fit her personality best. I also had some experience with using dramatic lighting from a previous portrait assignment. I like dramatic lighting because it can provide information while at the same time concealing it. It provides mystery and suspense. It reminds me of old black and white crime movies. They would hide a character's face with shadows to create suspense leading up to the reveal