Herb, one of my favorite living photographers growing up!

That WAS the photo business in LA as far as i was concerned from my little german perspective.

The light, the locations, all exotic and yet very bare elements, and modern at the same time. It just amazed me working in a studio in grey rainy Germany that this world exists, Thank you HR.

I always loved the simplicity, reduction to the most significant element, that was basically the hallmark of his photography, and who can forget his music videos or ad movies…

Well, The Getty in LA took it on to mount a retrospective, so go see it till August 26, 2012. They’re closed Mondays, otherwise 10-5:30, stay for the view and have a bite.

We lost a giant.

He, of all the photographers in history, influenced me the most.

His attention to detail, the contrast and the simplification of subjects will always be inspiring.

His work was one of the first that really stood out for me as a teenager when I first got into photography and discovered “Passage” and later “Flowers”.

(And I read all the book on photography in our library; twice)

And today I’m still amazed on the broad subject matter he shot so exquisitely and was always excited finding another Penn photograph in Vogue over the years.

There is a very short list of photographers that I’m a true fan and he is on top of even this group.

This is truly one of the saddest days in the Photography world and words will never be enough.

His series “Petit métiers” shot for Vogue in the 50′s is on display at the Getty Center in LA till January 10, 2010