The Beautiful Work of Annie Leibovitz
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Annie Leibovitz is a 65 year old photographer who started pursuing painting without photography in mind. She began by first enrolling in the San Francisco Art Institute focused on studying painting in 1967. It was not until the summer after her sophomore year, when she traveled to Japan with her mother, that she discovered her interest towards photography. When Leibovitz returned to San Francisco that fall, she started taking night classes in photography. In 1969, Leibovitz had an architectural dig at King Solomon's Temple in Israel, which allowed her to improve her skills further. Now, Annie Leibovitz is one of the best portrait photographers in this modern age. Her works focus on various subjects but mainly more on celebrity portraits. Apart from these, her photographs portray visual stories that affect the viewer’s emotions. The variety and energy of her photographs produce a visual artistic feel that touches the soul.
I’m a huge fan of Annie Leibovitz photography style. She is able to capture so much of what the subject portrays in a photo. As Leibovitz says “The thing about photography is that you are doing a heightened moment.” Her photography is simply wonderful as she’s able to get so comfortable with the subject, that the subject no longer notices her existence around them. Carefully staged settings, intense lighting, and her trademark use of vivid colours characterize Leibovitz style throughout her projects. Her style is so famous that she doesn’t even need to sign her own portraits. The first picture captures a beautiful portrait. This photograph was taken for the ‘Le Miserables’ Series. It’s the posture that is being portrayed is what really stands out to me. Anne Hathaway as Fantine plays a poor orphan that becomes pregnant by a rich student. Her back may be hunched a bit, but her head is still up, showing that even though the man may have left her, she is still capable of raising the child on her own. In addition, there's a distant look in her eyes. Overall, Hathaway seems very comfortable being photographed and not very tense looking. Perhaps dreaming a dream of time gone by. Both Fantine’s hair and locket are gone, but it looks like her hand still remembers where they used to be. Moreover, the vivid colours being used in this portrait. Hathaway’s skin tone is very light, as the background is a dark green tone. This shows contrast on the main subject being Fantine. In the second picture, many things stand out. The white textures on Meryl Streep’s face really emphasis’ her eyes and lips. It directs me towards her eyes and gives off a very serious tone. This photograph is a metaphor of Meryl’s acting career, showing how different she is as an actress and her adaptability to change roles. Streep peeling off the mask is symbolic and means that she is her own person and the roles in which she acts is just her job. Her face is very emphasized as the shot is framed into a close-up. Many techniques are being used to draw the viewer’s focus to the center of the photo. The composition works well, as the dark simplistic background makes Streep’s face the main focus. Her plain white shirt doesn’t distract you from her face and allows her to stand out more. This photograph shows signs using the most common technique in the photography of people, which is direct address. This drew me in, and allowed me to notice her eyes as the first thing. Streep’s eyes are emphasizes through the makeup being used. In addition, the lighting is very delicate and there doesn’t need to be much of it as her face already stands out a lot. In the final photo, Leibovitz’ styles of photography really comes into play. This shot of the Queen shows the queen looking very comfortable in her own environment. She doesn't look out of place or uncomfortable, she looks perfectly placed in this photo, with the lighting and colours around her all working in harmony to make her the main focus point. The image carries many emotions. Queen Elizabeth is a very powerful figure but the colors and lighting make the photograph dreary. It is an overcast grey day, the lights are off in the room, and the trees have no leaves. I infer this photograph as a message of power, elegance, and sophistication. The Queen of England is a famous reference in western culture. She appears in articles, news, movies, and everyday conversation. There are evident thoughts linked with the queen, such as power, elegance, sophistication, and wealth. All this allows the photograph to carry a powerful message. Overall, Leibovitz’ style of being able to be so comfortable around the queen. In addition, her signature vivid colours and intense lighting is portrayed in this photograph. Leibovitz can analyze atmospheres and situations very accurately therefore ending up with brilliant photographs. She is able to capture intense moments of grief by becoming invisible. Her main goal in a photograph is to make her subject feel comfortable. This is portrayed by placing her subject in an environment in which they feel comfortable, such as the photograph above. Leibovitz spends enough time with her subjects to gain a level of comfort where they take her existence for granted (invisible) and allow truly outspoken shots to be taken. In addition, she is also able to cleverly create a very staged shot to tell a story. Leibovitz’ photographs capture the characters and attitudes behind the celebrity to show the public that they aren’t only what you see in the media. Annie Leibovitz’ work never fails to amaze me. Her technique is beyond the talent of what many people aren’t able to portray, which is what makes her work so unique and special. When recreating a photograph in the style of Annie Leibovitz, I decided to focus on the idea of being the team manger of the Senior Boys Football Team. As mentioned before, Leibovitz’ objective is to make the subject feel comfortable. Being the team manger of the Football Team allows me to spend a lot of time around the players to gain that level of comfort where they don’t acknowledge my existence, in a good way. Through these series of photographs, I was able to capture a shot to represent the adrenalin the player is portraying. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this project, only because I truly admire Annie Leibovitz and she one of the main reasons that I started to like photography which has now given me a focus to perhaps pursue it as a career. |
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