“My work is a combination of my admiration for Irving Penn, Elsworth Kelly and Sarah Lucas,” says Australian-born, London-based photographer Jenny van Sommers. “Lucas’ certain roughness, Kelly’s crystallization of shapes and lights and just trying to get anywhere near to how good Irving Penn is.” Continuing our spotlight on NOWNESS’ longtime contributors, Van Sommers’ playful commissions for Vogue, Teen Vogue and Mother are collected in today’s portfolio. Drawing heavily on modernism, she uses geometric shapes to give her tantalizing subjects a surreal twist, supported by sets frequently build the likes of Rachel Thomas, Gemma Tickle and Gary Card. “What first drew me to photography in reality is seeing light and noticing what it does,” she says. “I want to document its immediacy.”

Can you tell us more about how Irving Penn has influenced your work?
Jenny van Sommers: There hasn’t been a better still-life photographer—I still don’t think there’s anyone better than Penn. Even when he was 94 and was still taking shots, the results look more modern than anybody else’s pictures. He was an arch modernist and my hero. I wish he’d taken more still lifes so that I could look at more of them.

Can you explain the use of geometric arrangement, and why you were seduced by it?
JvS: I’ve always liked geometry and three-dimensional shapes. I’m very attracted to those very simple, modern things. There’s a place called The Model Shop in London’s East End and they have an abundance spheres and blocks which always fascinate me. I have a lot of children’s playing blocks I collect; I’m always drawn to this–just the combination of a few blocks put together.

What’s your current fixation?
JvS: I have been buying old prints on eBay and copying them. So far they’re newspaper pictures of roses from the Boston Globe—all the newspapers in America and around the world have liquidated their archives which are archives of actual prints they had commissioned. I keep buying them and reproducing them, that’s my next project.