Annie Leibovitz

October 2nd, 1949 - Present

"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people."

Time Period

Annie Leibovitz started in 1970 with a job photographing for the Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1983 she began working for the magazine Vanity Fair where she was able to show off a lot more of her work. Annie continues to take portrait photography today traveling all over America and the world to capture portraits of famous celebrities and icons. This was a time period of emerging stars and icons and Annie was able to capture the essence of them. 

Subject

Annie’s most common subject is portraits of well known celebrities and actors/actresses. She is able to capture the moment and enhance the details and characteristics of her subjects in her photographs. Annie’s most common focuses of elements of art are texture and value and for principles of design she mainly focuses on emphasis and harmony. She is able to change the light to show certain features of the person she is photographing. She also makes sure that she uses the right background for these people.

Technique

In the 80’s and 90’s Annie used a Mamiya RZ67 and she now uses a Canon Mark II for all of her shoots. Some of Annie's main focuses while shooting are capturing nature light as well as adding in addition light when needed. This is how she is able to focus on the subject and make that the time that the viewers eye go towards first. Annie also insists on using tripods in order to ensure stability and believes fans can add a lot to the photo but they should be used wisely.

Significance

Annie produced many photos for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair Magazines throughout her time as a photographer. She had a large impact in the history of portrait photography as she continues to enhance and improve her own publications. Annie Leibovitz also expresses her passion and technique through a total of 15 books her first being, Photographs, published in 1983. She has made a major impact in art history and her portraits continue to inspire people today.

Image in the Style of Your Artist

I created this image by having my sister position in front of some lights on the wall and then reaching up for a light in the ceiling. As Annie Leibovitz is always focused on the lighting of her subjects I felt this reflected her style nicely. In addition I added contrast to the image with photo shop and converted it to black and white. As most of her images have monotone backgrounds I felt that black and white was a close match to her style. Lastly, as Annie Leibovitz likes to incorporate something into the photo that reflects her subject I feel that the lights reflect her interest in design.