Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens

Annie Leibovitz is a famous American photographer who took portrait photographs for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. She discovered photography when she was stationed with her family in the Philippines (her dad worked in the US Air Force), and took photography classes in college. When she lived in San Francisco, she began working as a photographer for the Rolling Stone magazine. Later, she followed the band The Rolling Stones on tour. Now, she works as a photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She took famous photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as well as famous portraits of many other celebrities such as pregnant Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub of milk, and Patti Smith "catching fire".

I thought the film was really interesting. I liked seeing how Leibovitz's style changed from grungy, casual photos of daily life to high-production, dramatic, and formal posed photographs. I also thought it was interesting to see Leibovitz's take on the role of a photographer--what they are meant to capture. She said that you can't capture the whole person's identity, but you can capture who they are at that very moment.

The Annie Leibovitz photos I have seen before were the ones of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the photo for Les Miserables, the Bruce Springsteen album cover Born in the U.S.A., and the photo of Leonardo DiCaprio with a swan.

Reportage era:

This image is captioned: Christmas 1971, Soledad Prison, California. I like how the image shows so many couples together. It combines something so unglamorous with something so special and beautiful.

This image is especially poignant knowing it was taken the day Lennon was killed. The facial expressions and the positions are so loving and intimate.

I have been to the Opera de Paris, and I feel like this photo accurately portrays its glamour and beauty. This new style of Annie Leibovitz really works with the setting of this photograph.