--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I myself have always stood in the awe of…" description: "\"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" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/irving-penn-24767_awe_i-myself-have-always-stood-in-the-awe-of_2755331.png" --- # I myself have always stood in the awe of the camera. I… ![“I myself have always stood in the awe of the camera. I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel.” quote by Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/irving-penn-24767_awe_i-myself-have-always-stood-in-the-awe-of_2755331.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/irving-penn-24767_awe_i-myself-have-always-stood-in-the-awe-of_2755331.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/irving-penn-24767_awe_i-myself-have-always-stood-in-the-awe-of_2755331.png) > “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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The camera is both a tool and a precise instrument, like a Stradivarius or scalpel. **In simple terms:** Camera is a precise artistic tool. Key Takeaway Treat the camera with respect and precision. Themes photography craft precision Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - studio shoots - portrait sessions - documentary work - creative process - technical training Key Concepts artistic vision technical mastery Questions to Reflect On - How does viewing the camera as an instrument affect creativity? - When should you let go of technical control? A Different Perspective Over‑emphasis on tool may stifle spontaneity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Awe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awe/) [Camera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/camera/) [Cameras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cameras/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) ## Related quotes > [I have always stood in awe of the camera. I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-have-always-stood-in-awe-of-the-camera-i-recognize-it-for-the/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Yes, the deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/yes-the-deficit-doctors-have-their-scalpels-out-all-right-but-they-re/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The railway was part scalpel, part movie camera, slicing the city open, parading its inner workings at fifty frames per second. It was on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/the-railway-was-part-scalpel-part-movie-camera-slicing-the-city-open/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [ Listening to Benny \[Goodman\] talk about the clarinet was like listening to a surgeon get hung up on a scalpel. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/artie-shaw/listening-to-benny-goodman-talk-about-the-clarinet-was-like-listening/) [Artie Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/artie-shaw/) > [I love the process of cutting everything out with a scalpel yourself: I don't want to have my stencils drawn up in Illustrator, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-eine/i-love-the-process-of-cutting-everything-out-with-a-scalpel-yourself/) [Ben Eine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-eine/) > [The voice was gentle, like a scalpel petting the short hairs of your throat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-voice-was-gentle-like-a-scalpel-petting-the-short-hairs-of-your/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [I could teach an eighth-grader in twenty minutes how to brief a case. Yet for all three years in most law schools the casebook…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerry-spence/i-could-teach-an-eighth-grader-in-twenty-minutes-how-to-brief-a-case/) [Gerry Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerry-spence/) > [Get a scalpel, and practice just, say, cutting a piece of meat or something like that. You sort of learn how you want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denton-cooley/get-a-scalpel-and-practice-just-say-cutting-a-piece-of-meat-or/) [Denton Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denton-cooley/) > [I was a bit of a strange kid in some ways. I had microscopes, scalpels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hadley/i-was-a-bit-of-a-strange-kid-in-some-ways-i-had-microscopes-scalpels/) [Tony Hadley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hadley/) > [Self-disruption is akin to undergoing major surgery, but you are the one holding the scalpel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-samit/self-disruption-is-akin-to-undergoing-major-surgery-but-you-are-the/) [Jay Samit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-samit/) > [The truth is like a scalpel. The truth is painful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/the-truth-is-like-a-scalpel-the-truth-is-painful/) [Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/) > [ \[Mindfulness\] is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/mindfulness-is-not-concerned-with-anything-transcendent-or-divine-it/) [Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/) > [If you take the time to study how to be a doctor and how to use your scalpel and your medicine, then there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tenzin-palmo/if-you-take-the-time-to-study-how-to-be-a-doctor-and-how-to-use-your/) [Tenzin Palmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tenzin-palmo/) > [Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-caine/theater-acting-is-an-operation-with-a-scalpel-movie-acting-is-an/) [Michael Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-caine/) > [In golf, driving is a game of free-swinging muscle control, while putting is something like performing eye surgery and using a bread knife for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-bolt/in-golf-driving-is-a-game-of-free-swinging-muscle-control-while/) [Tommy Bolt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommy-bolt/) ## More by Irving Penn > [Photographing a cake can be art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/photographing-a-cake-can-be-art/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-am-a-professional-photographer-because-it-is-the-best-way-i-know-to/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [A beautiful print is a thing in itself, not just a halfway house on the way to the page.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/a-beautiful-print-is-a-thing-in-itself-not-just-a-halfway-house-on/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [I share with many people the feeling that there is a sweetness and constancy to light that falls into a studio from the north…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-share-with-many-people-the-feeling-that-there-is-a-sweetness-and/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [I feed on art more than I ever do on photographs. I can admire photography, but I wouldn't go to it out of hunger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-feed-on-art-more-than-i-ever-do-on-photographs-i-can-admire/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Sometime in 1964 I realized that I was a victim of a printmaking obsession, a condition that persists today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/sometime-in-1964-i-realized-that-i-was-a-victim-of-a-printmaking/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Liberman said to me, 'I must cut back on the work you do for Vogue. The editors don't like it. They say the photographs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/liberman-said-to-me-i-must-cut-back-on-the-work-you-do-for-vogue-the/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Many photographers feel their client is the subject. My client is a woman in Kansas who reads Vogue. I'm trying to intrigue, stimulate, feed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/many-photographers-feel-their-client-is-the-subject-my-client-is-a/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Working on photography is working on oneself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/working-on-photography-is-working-on-oneself/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-ve-tried-a-few-times-to-depart-from-what-i-know-i-can-do-and-i-ve/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/a-good-photograph-is-one-that-communicates-a-fact-touches-the-heart/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [Over the years I must have spent thousands of hours silently brushing on the liquid coatings, preparing each sheet in anticipation of reaching the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/over-the-years-i-must-have-spent-thousands-of-hours-silently-brushing/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [In portrait photography there is something more profound that we seek inside a person, while being painfully aware that a limitation of our medium…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/in-portrait-photography-there-is-something-more-profound-that-we-seek/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [I can get obsessed by anything if i look at it long enough. That's the curse of being a photographer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/i-can-get-obsessed-by-anything-if-i-look-at-it-long-enough-that-s-the/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) > [What I really try to do is photograph people at rest, in a state of serenity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-penn/what-i-really-try-to-do-is-photograph-people-at-rest-in-a-state-of/) [Irving Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) [Explore all 24 Irving Penn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-penn/) ## More Awe quotes > [Because I've never had any higher education of any sort, I've never held in awe those who have had it or have a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-corbyn/because-i-ve-never-had-any-higher-education-of-any-sort-i-ve-never/) [Jeremy Corbyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-corbyn/) > [Of course the Dharma-body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/of-course-the-dharma-body-of-the-buddha-was-the-hedge-at-the-bottom/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [When I look at the human brain I'm still in awe of it. Every single time you lift off the bone and open the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/when-i-look-at-the-human-brain-i-m-still-in-awe-of-it-every-single/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [“I know you deserve better than me. You think I don’t know that? But if there was any woman made for me … it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-mcguire/i-know-you-deserve-better-than-me-you-think-i-don-t-know-that-but-if/) [Jamie McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-mcguire/) > [There are certain scenes that would awe an atheist into belief without the help of any other argument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-gray/there-are-certain-scenes-that-would-awe-an-atheist-into-belief/) [Thomas Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-gray/) > [As we contemplate with reverence and awe how our Savior embraces us, comforts us, and heals us, let us commit to become His hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/as-we-contemplate-with-reverence-and-awe-how-our-savior-embraces-us/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [My journey deep into coma, outside this lowly physical realm and into the loftiest dwelling place of the almighty Creator, revealed the indescribably immense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eben-alexander/my-journey-deep-into-coma-outside-this-lowly-physical-realm-and-into/) [Eben Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eben-alexander/) > [Awe combined with intimacy is the essence of Christian worship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/awe-combined-with-intimacy-is-the-essence-of-christian-worship/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Everything we perceive to be solid and static is made up of almost entirely empty space.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-p-kauffman/everything-we-perceive-to-be-solid-and-static-is-made-up-of-almost/) [Joseph P. Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-p-kauffman/) > [“Oftentimes we call Life bitter names, but only when we ourselves are bitter and dark. And we deem her empty and unprofitable, but only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kahlil-gibran/oftentimes-we-call-life-bitter-names-but-only-when-we-ourselves-are/) [Kahlil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kahlil-gibran/) > [The laws of nature are the skeleton of the universe. They support it, give it shape, tie it together. Taken as a whole, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-trefil/the-laws-of-nature-are-the-skeleton-of-the-universe-they-support-it/) James Trefil > [When you look at yourself and feel dissatisfaction about any part of you, you will continue to attract feelings of dissatisfaction, because the law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhonda-byrne/when-you-look-at-yourself-and-feel-dissatisfaction-about-any-part-of/) [Rhonda Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhonda-byrne/) > [“What can we make of the inexpressible joy of children? It is a kind of gratitude, I think—the gratitude of the ten-year-old who wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/what-can-we-make-of-the-inexpressible-joy-of-children-it-is-a-kind-of/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Sometimes not seeing things can be a blessing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/sometimes-not-seeing-things-can-be-a-blessing/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) > [I'm always in awe at how fast television is and how quickly you're called upon to be 100 percent invested in a character with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/latanya-richardson/i-m-always-in-awe-at-how-fast-television-is-and-how-quickly-you-re/) [LaTanya Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/latanya-richardson/) [Browse all 1,119 Awe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awe/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I myself have always stood in the awe of the camera. 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