Why should we know Annie Leibovitz?

Annie Leibovitz is considered one of the most sought-after and talented female photographers of our time, her work has been exhibited in galleries around the world and has graced the covers of Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Leibovitz started her career as a freelance photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine and soon became a photographer of worldwide fame, portraying actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Queen Elizabeth II, ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, musician Michael Jackson, former US President Barack Obama and others.

As Leibovitz admitted she was in love with each character of her works, tried to notice the slightest changes in their mood and make the images in her photos as authentic as possible.

In 1970 a friend persuaded Annie to take her photos to Rolling Stone magazine. She came with a suitcase of photos: protests, rallies against the war in San Francisco and Berkeley, Israel, where she shot for a while. The young Rolling Stone staff liked Annie and hired her. She quickly became a star of the magazine and worked there for 13 years.

I want to introduce you to some of Annie’s work, although each deserves special attention.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1980

Annie photographed John Lennon twice for Rolling Stone. The first time was in 1970. It was this shoot that started her work with the world’s biggest stars.
She was very young at the time, it was her first major assignment from the magazine. John and Yoko were very surprised that it was Annie who was sent by the editors to be interviewed, but they still treated her like a professional.
In 1980, Annie took a picture of a naked John hugging his wife. A few hours after the photo was taken, the musician was killed. The cover with this picture was recognized as the best one in several decades.
Annie said later that she had not planned to realize this idea beforehand – the characters of the photo had not rehearsed before shooting, and Lennon’s pose was spontaneous and „very strong”.

Meryl Streep, 1981

Meryl Streep, who was to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1981, did not like the idea of a portrait session by Leibovitz, and the photographer had a wonderful idea – to put on the actress’ face with a thick white paint, which mimes usually use. The result was that the makeup photo was sold at Christie’s for $15,000.

Whoopi Goldberg, 1984

In the early 1980s Annie Leibovitz decided to expand into commercial and fashion photography and began taking pictures for Vanity Fair. The new place of work significantly influenced the photographer’s style: Leibovitz paid special attention to the angle and style of her photographs, carefully considering the images of her characters. For example, actress and comedienne Whoopi Goldberg’s photo shoot from Annie took her to the peak of fame. „Friday night I was walking down the street quietly, and Saturday on the same street people were shouting my name,” Goldberg later recalled.

That’s because Leibovitz had an interesting idea – to shoot a dark-skinned actress in a tub of milk. The contrast did the trick: A photograph of Whoopi Goldberg throwing up her legs and arms in the milk bath later sold at auction at Christie’s for $9560.

Leonardo DiCaprio, 1997

The photo shoot with Leonardo DiCaprio took place when the young actor was still little known to the general public. Annie decided to look at the image of a young rebel differently than it was represented in the media: a gentle and at the same time serious nature of young DiCaprio successfully combined with the image of a swan.

 „Harry Potter” cast, 2001

Annie Leibovitz was given the opportunity to be one of the first to do a photo shoot of young actors right on the set. The professionalism of the photographer impressed the creators of the picture, and after the release of new parts of the saga in the world, Leibovitz took up filming the entire cast again.

Cate Blanchett, 2004

The childishly naive and cute picture of a smiling girl on a bicycle quickly caught the attention of the audience, despite the fact that no huge budgets were spent on its creation.

Annie Leibovitz Ig: https://www.instagram.com/annieleibovitz/?hl=ru