“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.”
Irving Penn
In 1967 Irving Penn photographed in Dahomey Africa, now the Republic of Benin, for AmericanVogue. This body of work includes landscape photographs, depictions of clay sculptures of the deity Legba, and iconic portraits of the native people, such as Dahomey Children. For these portraits, Penn made us of his emblematic portable studio, which was comprised of a neutral backdrop and natural light. This approach was something he used recurrently during his practice both in his fashion and documentary work.