Miranda Penn Turin

Teaches at Los Angeles Center of Photography

Miranda Penn Turin is a freelance photographer who has been specializing in portraiture, fashion and beauty for over thirty years. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts and splits her time between New York and LA – she shoots all over the world and is grateful to have the best crew on the planet. She first picked up a camera at about eight when her mother gave her a Polaroid Swinger, but didn’t get serious until she was sixteen – after that she took photography classes every year; it became her informal minor in college. Miranda graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in creative writing, but her passion for photography overrode her major. In her summer breaks she interned with Boston photographer Jack Richmond and began assisting once she graduated. She still considers assisting the greatest photographic education she could possibly get and feels that this step is essential to truly hone one’s skill and know-how. Her one piece of advice for any young photographer is just that – assist, assist, assist.

Her clients include Coty, Max Factor, Sony, Universal, Bloomingdales, Fox, Warner Bros. Records, Converse, Conde Nast, the Four Seasons, Chase, MTV and many others. She is currently working with Voices4Freedom, a humanitarian organization committed to abolishing human trafficking all over the world. Her images of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu provide the cover art for The Book of Joy, which spent 37 weeks on the New York Times top fifteen bestseller list. A writer as well, she just completed her first novel.

In brief flights of fantasy Miranda has contemplated opening a bakery, but never came within miles of giving up photography – she loves what she does too much to quit. Her advice on visiting her hometown: eat lobster and don’t try to do the accent.