Annie Leibovitz - Photographer of the Week

Annie Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1967,  she enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute to study painting, with plans of becoming an art teacher. Instead, she fell in love with photography. 

In 1970 Leibovitz applied for a job with the “up and coming”  music magazine Rolling Stone. 

She was offered a job as a staff photographer, and within two years, at age 23, was promoted to chief photographer - a title she would hold for the next 10 years. She worked for the magazine until 1983, shooting 142 covers.

In 1975, Mick Jagger offered her a job as the official photographer for the Rolling Stones International tour. Leibovitz accepted and photographed what she called  “strung-out nights and unmade beds.”

She said that the best photographs she’s ever taken of musicians at work were done during that Rolling Stones tour and that she spent more time on it than on any other subject. Her favorite photo from the tour was the one of Mick Jagger in an elevator.

 On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone. She had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, which is what Rolling Stone wanted, but Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. She then tried to re-create something like the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover and had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko.  She said that when he curled up next to her it was very, very strong and you couldn't help but feel that he was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her. She said it was amazing to look at the first Polaroid and that they were both very excited. John said, 'You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover.' 
She looked him in the eye and they shook on it.“ Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon—he was shot and killed five hours later.

In 1983, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone and began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair. With a wider array of subjects, her photographs ranged from presidents to literary icons to teen heartthrobs. 

To date, a number of Vanity Fair covers have featured Leibovitz’s stunning - and often controversial - portraits of celebrities. One of the most remembered of her covers was of Demi Moore in 1991, which at the time, it was considered shocking and morally offensive to some people. 

A few years later, the picture was held responsible for the rise of body-hugging maternity fashions. “None of this was my intention, although it’s gratifying to think that the picture helped make pregnant women feel less awkward or embarrassed about their bodies.”

In 1998, she also began working for Vogue. 

Leibovitz has been designated a Living Legend by the Library of Congress and is the recipient of many other honors, including the International Center of Photography's Lifetime Achievement Award. Exhibitions of her images have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world.

In addition to her magazine editorial work, Leibovitz has created influential advertising campaigns with award-winning portraits for American Express and the Gap. She also contributed frequently to the Got Milk? campaign.

Over the last couple years, Leibovitz has partnered with Disney to create pictures of celebrities posing as Disney characters from classic animated Disney films.

Though she is known for her portraits, she has also taken many other types of photographs. She currently has more than 70 of her photos currently on display at the National Military Park Museum and Visitors Center in Gettysburg.

Photos include the Gettysburg battlefield, Yosemite Valley, Niagara Falls, and some at the homes of important Americans, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Elvis Presley.

Leibovitz also has a collection of photographs being displayed at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, which includes 156 portraits as well as  landscapes, interiors, and objects that are personal points of interest for her.

Today Leibovitz is 63 years old and is considered one of America’s best portrait photographers. She says that what she is interested in shooting now is the landscape, pictures without people and that she wouldn’t be surprised if eventually there were no people in her pictures.