In portrait photography there is something more profound that we seek inside a person, while being painfully aware that a limitation of our medium is…

- Irving Penn

I myself have always stood in the awe of the camera. I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel.

- Irving Penn

Using simple equipment and daylight alone is for me a pleasure and a replenishment.

- Irving Penn

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.

- Irving Penn

Most of the time the ones who dislike the pictures the most confirm to me that the picture has hit home and is probably truer than I know. Nobody min…

- Irving Penn

I always thought we were selling dreams, not clothes

- Irving Penn

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 …

- Irving Penn

Photographing a cake can be art.

- Irving Penn

What I really try to do is photograph people at rest, in a state of serenity.

- Irving Penn