I've tried a few times to depart from what I know I can do, and I've failed. I've tried to work outside the studio, but it introduces too many variables that I can't control. I'm really quite narrow, you know.
Interpretation
The quote reflects an artist's struggle with experimenting beyond their familiar boundaries and the challenges that come with it.
Irving Penn expresses the difficulty of stepping outside of one's expertise and comfort zone, acknowledging that while attempts to innovate may have been made, the unpredictable nature of new environments can lead to failure. This statement highlights the tension between creativity and the constraints of one's established skills, suggesting that true mastery may lie within a more focused and controlled artistic practice.
In practice
An artist might share this quote during a workshop to emphasize the importance of knowing one's artistic limits.
Sensitive people faced with the prospect of a camera portrait put on a face they think is one they would like to show the world very often what lies behind the facade is rare and more wonderful than the subject knows or dares to believe.
I am a professional photographer because it is the best way I know to earn the money I require to take care of my wife and children.
I can get obsessed by anything if i look at it long enough. That's the curse of being a photographer.
I'm not about either entertaining or instructing. The entertaining and instructing are secondary fallout from the fundamental thing, which is basically to create an aesthetic object.
I started earning a living as a poet rather early on.
The next time you look into the mirror, just look at the way the ears rest next to the head; look at the way the hairline grows; think of all the little bones in your wrist. It is a miracle. And the dance is a celebration of that miracle.
I can't stand directors who try to micro-manage everything. When it happens these days I just walk off set, saying if they don't like the way I'm doing it they can get someone else.
Because I direct films, I have to live in a major English-speaking production center. That narrows it down to three places: Los Angeles, New York and London. I like New York, but it's inferior to London as a production center. Hollywood is best, but I don't like living there.
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
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