Did Irving Penn Believe In Manifestation?

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Did Irving Penn Believe In Manifestation?

Manifestation is all over the place lately: manifest your dream __________ (house! career! partner! Instagrammable life!). As a decidedly rather woo woo person, it might not surprise you that I do believe in manifestation. But not the kind you may have been sold.

Before I get deeper down that road, let me back it up a bit and tell you how we got here. This month in ✨The Art Lab (REGISTRATION FOR NEXT SEMESTER IS OPEN!)✨ we are studying photographer Irving Penn, and the lack of information on his personal life has been a sort of gift for me as someone who loooooooves to dream and fill in the blanks.

So what do we know about Irving Penn? He photographed at Vogue for 66 years, creating 165 covers during his tenure. He photographed models from around the world—-he also photographed trade workers with the same lighting, backdrops, and dignity as those models.

And then the trash and cigarette butts. Yup, he photographed those as well, and you might think “ew Irving!” But believe me when I tell you, he photographed those discarded and decaying objects by getting up nice and close so their form pops off the paper and you become enchanted.

So it’s probably no surprise that he said, “I can get obsessed by anything if I look at it long enough. That’s the curse of being a photographer.” And that he also said, “photographing a cake can be art.”

The man could take anything and find its inherent beauty and dignity. He wanted to strip away the façade and photograph the inner reality of his subjects. He wanted to capture the elegance in the raw, and the rawness in the elegant.

This is what we know, which leads me to fill in all sort of gaps.

And the gap I like to fill in is that Irving Penn believed in the kind of manifestation I believe in.

You see, I don’t believe in that manifestation that’s basically Prosperity Gospel wrapped in secular packaging. That kind of manifestation tells you that if you train your brain, you will get yourself in alignment to buy that million dollar house, drive the nice car, and take expensive vacations.

Those things aren’t bad, but they’re not the point of beautiful living. Which is why I believe in the kind of manifestation that aligns yourself not to get good things, but to experience the life you’re living as deeply good. I don’t care about acquiring material things, but in cultivating beautiful connection.

I believe in rewiring my brain to seek out and cultivate healthy and life-giving relationships. I believe in rewiring my brain to acknowledge my gifts and talents and use them to strengthen those around me. I believe in rewiring my brain to pay attention to the moments around me that I can’t believe I am lucky enough to witness. (the moon! the nighttime reflection of the skyline in the Mississippi River! the spring blossoms!)

And yes, this even means rewiring my brain so that I pay attention to trash and find beauty. I want to look at a cigarette butt and imagine the lips it was once dangling off of and the finger tips gently grasping its paper. Or to see a decaying glove and wonder about the hand it once held as it went about its chores and ask into the ether how that singular glove got separated from its counterpart.

Julia Cameron perfectly summarizes the act of paying attention to these moments in life in her book The Artist’s Way when she says

The reward for attention is always healing. It may begin as the healing of a particular pain - the lost lover, the sickly child, the shattered dream. But what is healed, finally, is the pain that underlies all pain: the pain that we are all, as Rilke phrases it, “unutterably alone.”

Because of Irving’s photography, I imagine he valued connection, that he valued paying attention and finding beauty in all of it. I imagine he ran into those tough patches of life we all experience and, instead of viewing himself as trapped, he viewed them as opportunities to try new things (it’s why I believe he dug so deep into alternative processing when his photography took a dip.)

I imagine those around him or in front of his camera being acutely aware of being in the presence of tender care, and feeling even a moment of the dignity and respect they were imbued with by Creation.

All because Irving believed in aligning himself with the deep good the world has to offer. He manifested beauty, so he saw beauty.

Am I overreaching? Absolutely. But is it so wrong to imagine someone existing with these traits?

I think the world would be a better place if we all overreached with this kind of imagination. So I will keep imagining Irving as an exemplar who leaves behind his art as evidence of a life lived for the searching and finding of beauty.

I will keep imagining he helped wear that path that I now walk, and I will manifest so I stay the course.

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Are Ya Thirsty For More?

Want to learn more about Irving Penn? Listen in on the podcast!

The Post-Processing podcast is the space in which we talk about artists, art, have conversations with other creatives, and even answer your questions!

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🚨The Art Lab Is Open For Registration!🚨

This is not a drill! The Art Lab is open for registration for Summer Semester! Summer semester runs May 1-Aug 31, 2025 and will be jam packed with even more community, conversation, education, and creativity.

There are only 5 Full Tuition slots open, so snag one before they’re gone!

What is The Art Lab?

It’s the place for…

Connection: It’s a hub for creatives. No need to call yourself an “artist” (but we will work on that.) All mediums welcome.

We gather over zooms and the facebook group to brainstorm, share ideas, and ask questions.

Learning: Each month learn about a new artist, their life, techniques, and philosophy. Use these as fodder for expanding your creativity and working in ways you would not otherwise.

Creativity: We need accountability to motivate us to get sh-- done, so each month there’s a deadline for your final piece.

It could take you 5 hours or 5 minutes; time is irrelevant. But the fact remains that you will create something, and it just might surprise yourself most of all.

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Mary Oliver Gets It

Included in this post are iPhone images from moments in life where all I can do is stop and marvel that I get to bear witness to the utter magic of living.

With artists like Irving Penn as our guides, we learn how to choose awe. I leave you with a poem by the late, great Mary Oliver, who also just GETS IT.

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

-Mary Oliver, “Invitation”

We are the dreamers.

xo,

Amy