Famous Photographers - Part 7 - Annie Leibovitz
Famous Photographers - Part 7 - Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz has worked for Rolling Stone Magazine, for Disney, and has created an amazing portfolio of work. Her main focus has been photos of celebrities, movie stars and other famous people, including Queen Elizabeth II. The settings for her portraits are unusual, and she pushes the envelope in many ways. She travelled to Sarajevo during the conflict there as a photojournalist, travelled with the Rolling Stones on one of their tours, and the photos below show that she is not limited to just unusual portraits.
From Wikipedia:
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz, born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer. She photographed John Lennon on the day he was assassinated, and her work has been used on numerous album covers and magazines. She became the first woman to hold an exhibition at Washington's National Portrait Gallery in 1991.
Leibovitz is much influenced by Richard Avedon, and his 'personal reportage', developing close rapport with her subjects.
Here are 25 of her photos:
1. Angelina Jolie (2011)
2. Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightly (2006)
3. Charlize Theron (2011)
4. Leonardo DiCaprio (1998)
5. Judi Dench and Helen Mirren (2007)
6. Arnold Schwarzenegger (1990)
7. LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen (2008)
8. Meryl Streep (1981)
9. Queen Elizabeth II (2007)
10. Miley Cyrus (2008)
11. Demi Moore (1991)
12. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi (1979)
13. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
14. John Lennon and Yoko Ono (1980)
15. Whoopie Goldberg (1984)
16. Author Maurice Sendak, for Vanity Fair (2012)
17. Abraham Lincoln's gloves
18. Nixon leaving the White House by helicopter for the last time (1974)
19. R2 - D2 (2002)
20. Sarajevo (1993)
21. Sarajevo soldiers (1993)
22. Serbia (1993)
23. Monument Valley
24. Queen Latifa in a Disney photo
25. Astronaughts, for Louis Vuitton (Sally Ride, Jim Lovell, Buzz Aldrin) - I had to get a "Buzz" in there somewhere.
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Two I forgot to include in the portraits:
Bette Midler
Sting
Great essay Buzz....My favorites are the Blues Brothers and Sarajevo.
Agree with K, great choice of pictures. My favorite is Monument Valley. Second choice, Serbia 1993. Thanks, Buzz.
Historical note - John Lennon was murdered just before that Rolling Stone cover was published. Annie had promised John that it would be the cover and he was shot days later, so they kept the promise.
Annie Leibovitz was in fact the last person to take a photo of John Lennon. She had taken other photos of him the day he was shot.
Wonderful. The one of Bette Midler is my favorite.....just love her!
It that's a bed of roses, it must have taken ages to pluck all the thorns out before she lay in them.
Oh, to be in a bed of roses!
My next "Famous Photographers" subject will be Alfred Eisenstadt. He is another LIFE Magazine photographer, the one who took the iconic photo of the sailer kissing the woman in Times Square at the end of the war.
Ha ha! Did I say "sailer"? I meant "Sailor" of course.
It is often difficult, if not virtually impossible, to describe an artist's "style" over a career … across a body of works so-to-speak … but when any given work by that artist is recognizable almost immediately on first site …
… that "style" speaks for itself.
Such is that of Annie Leibovitz.
Much gratitude goes to Buzz for posting these outstanding articles.
Eisenstadt article will be posted today.
Some really nice photos!!!
Her American music book is beautiful.