This photograph is a significant piece of ‘art’, symbolizing a hidden effect of the subject in the photograph. What we see is a woman smoking a delicate thin cigarette, where a man is lighting her cigarette with a match, however not all of the man is seen just his hand, this shows that the woman is more powerful than the man so her authority is much greater than his; hence him not being in the photograph, but only his hand, serving the woman. The woman is wearing a dress with padded shoulders, because of what she is wearing and that she is smoking a cigarette emphasizes that she is a high-class woman, who is rich, sophisticated and fashionable. However both the woman and the man are out of focus and the bottle of wine is in focus. This is effective because all these elements are around the wine bottle, which is stated as a strong symbol of wealth and glamor in the 1920/30s. Irving Penn utilizes this to his advantage by positing it so that there is a distorted image of the woman, however the lack of focus of the woman gives her ambiguity, this takes away her identity of her body, simply leaving just a symbol of the magazine ‘vogue’. The way Irving Penn has positioned the camera is as if a person was sitting opposite the woman, looking through the bottle, giving it a more realistic feel about it. Irving Penn did work for the ‘vogue’ magazine and has dedicated a folder of fashion photography that has been used in vogue magazines. Most of his images are in monochrome this gives the image a more depth, in terms of the meaning that is conveyed.

Irving Penn has created significant fashion photography that portrays wonderful meanings in a minimalistic way. However Irving Penn does not only focus on fashion photography but sometimes ‘expressive photography’. This is just one example of Irving Penn’s photography that does not focus on fashion. Here he has really expressed the connotation of the image; by his ability of controlling everything in the photograph; where his hands go, what he’s wearing, the mans composition, the type of watch, the glasses, everything is controlled by Irving Penn. The photograph being in black and white is significant because he is able to express the expression in the photograph, by enhancing the wrinkles on his face and the features. This shows that he is in thought; lost in his own thoughts, creating a ‘wise’ impression of himself, the highly defined wrinkles express that he has experience with the world-showing his age, which also enhances the ‘wise’ aspect of him. The glasses in his hands means that they could convey an academic aspect, along with his suit. This shows that he is very talented in his work and has a high knowledge. Irving Penn has used features of photography to convey the best in the photograph, for example; his hands create a triangle; at the bottom of the image and underneath his chin, this simply shows the dynamic aspect of the image, also creating leading lines. For example, his right hand leads upwards towards his face, which is where the light is shinning. The image as a whole is focused almost everywhere enhancing all aspects of the image, however the background is not. The background is out of focus and plain this allows us to see the subject the itself-creating no distractions from seeing what is there. ​