Even those who are unfamiliar with the world of high-class photography probably know the name Annie Leibovitz. The American woman is one of the most if not the most sought-after photographer.
She is famous for her brilliant portraits that capture as if the aura of the person on the other end of her camera lens. This is why we decided to dedicate this article to her life and work in order to give you some more information about someone you probably recognise, but don’t know much about.
Biography
Anna-Lou “Annie” Leibovitz was born on 2 October 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. Her family is of Jewish descent (Romanian and Estonian Jewish to be exact) and she has five other siblings.
Leibovitz’s parents are the reason why she became a photographer. Her mother, Marylin, was a dance instructor who nurtured her love for the arts, while her father, Samuel, was a lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Air Force and his career involved various depositions around the world.
Annie took her first pictures around 1967 when her family was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Once she returned to the states, she enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute. Annie chose the fine arts program (with a focus on painting) in her hopes to became an arts teacher.
A photography workshop, however, changed her plans. Annie was so impressed by it that she decided to change her major to photography and graduated with a BFA (Photography) in 1971.
She was incredibly lucky to be chosen by Rolling Stone magazine to photograph John Lennon in 1970. This experience and her own interest in rock music, made her passionate about photographing the rock stars of the 1970’s.
She became a permanent photographer for Rolling Stone, and went on a tour with the Rolling Stones in the 1975, producing some of their most famous pictures of the band.
Leibovitz, however, truly rose to fame when she took the photo of naked John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono, merely hours before he was shot by Chapman. The photograph became emblematic of their relationship, and was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone in January 1981, a month since the singer was murdered.
Leibovitz created a 60-photograph exhibition in 1983 that toured around the United States and Europe to much success. She then published a book, Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, that quickly became a best-seller.
Vanity Fair invited Leibovitz to join their team the same year. This new gig allowed her to broaden her horizons by photographing various public figures, and not just rock stars. Leibovitz also began dabbling in commercial photography.
She worked for American Express, Honda, Disney, GAP, and the California Milk Processor Board (remember the “Got Milk?” ads) among others. She was successful in this venture as well, for which she was paid rather handsomely, but she also received critical acclaim, having won the Clio Award for her American Express “Membership” campaign in 1987.
In 1991, Annie Leibovitz became the first woman photographer and only the second photographer ever to be featured in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. The event was memorialised with an accompanying book titled Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990.
There are many more achievements we can talk about, but all you need to know is that Annie continues to expire new generations of photographers and she’s probably never going to retire.
Style
If there’s one word to describe Leibovitz’s photography that is lavish. In fact, so lavish that she would often go over budget, for which she has suffered some financial consequences. Anyhow, a simple Google search will show you that it was worth it.
Leibovitz is famous for allowing the subject to dictate the session rather than trying to force it into a pre-planned concept. To achieve this, she tends to follow her subjects around their daily lives to capture a truly candid shot.
She finds it crucial to spend time with the subject before the session, in order to relax them, but she knows that everything has its limits and prolonging a session might result in unauthentic shots. Trust and respect are vital for her art.
In terms of technical aspects, Annie likes using natural light and she cannot stress that enough. She advises photographers to start their sessions early in the day to have enough daylight in case the process takes longer than planned.
Leibovitz still uses artificial light to make the subject “pop”, but she relies on ambient light and a small key light. For her, it’s important to keep it as natural-looking as possible, because it’s difficult to replicate the conditions of the room in the studio.
Leibovitz has a small travelling kit and she’s not scared to experiment if she ever forgets anything. Many of her beautiful portraits are the result of experiment brought up by the lack of appropriate equipment or issues arising during the session. Her advice is to allow yourself to get in the moment and use it as best as you can.