Annie Leibovitz's extraordinarily atmospheric and powerful photographs first appeared in the 1970s in Rolling Stone magazine.
Work of that calibre could not go unnoticed. Annie became a star of the publication and later began shooting for Vanity Fair and Vogue. Today her work can be seen not only in magazines and on advertising billboards, but also in national museums and galleries around the world.
In this article you will learn about:
- Annie Leibovitz's family and early life;
- her projects at Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines;
- working with world-famous celebrities;
- her relationship with Susan Sontag;
- how Annie Leibovitz works.
Annie Leibovitz. Life Through a Lens
Annie was born on 2 October 1949 into the family of a US Air Force officer. Her father's postings kept the family constantly on the move. In a sense, Leibovitz spent her whole life looking through a frame — as a child, through a car window, and from 1968 onwards, through a lens. "When you're basically raised in a car, it's easy to become an artist. You already see the world in a ready-made frame," Annie has said of herself.
Worldwide fame and an enormous volume of commercial work did nothing to diminish her obsession with quality. Leibovitz is a consummate professional and a perfectionist. At times it seems as though she has forgotten her own life entirely, living instead through the lives of those who appear before her camera.
Studies and photography courses
In 1968, while in Japan, Leibovitz bought a Minolta SR-T 101 camera and took it with her to climb Mount Fuji, where she shot her first photographs. She had no spare film, and only a few frames remained on the roll already in the camera. It was her first lesson as a photographer: think about your camera.
After returning to San Francisco, Leibovitz enrolled in evening photography classes. At the time she was already in her second year at the faculty of fine arts. The drawing courses focused mainly on abstraction and expressionism, which felt alien to Annie. She wanted to see the results of her work — to make something that genuinely mattered. Photography offered exactly that. With a camera, you have a mission, a reason for social engagement.
The beginning of a stellar career
In 1970, a friend of Annie's persuaded her to take her photographs to Rolling Stone magazine. She arrived with a suitcase full of images: protests and anti-war rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley, and work she had shot during a period in Israel. The young Rolling Stone team took to Annie immediately, and she was hired. She quickly became the magazine's star photographer and stayed for thirteen years.
Her photographs were always a revelation. Annie Leibovitz would spend three or four days with her subjects in order to earn the level of trust she needed. "The best photographs are always about what surrounds you."
In the early 1970s, professional photographers favoured Nikon, and Annie soon switched from her Minolta. In her early years at the magazine she carried three cameras, not wanting to waste time changing lenses. Zoom equipment was not taken seriously at the time — a photographer was expected to compose the shot themselves.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Annie photographed John Lennon for Rolling Stone twice. The first time was in 1970, and it was that shoot which marked the beginning of her work with stars of world renown.
She was very young at the time, and it was her first major assignment from the magazine. John and Yoko were surprised that the editors had sent Annie in particular, but they engaged with her as a professional all the same. "John — a true legend, someone I held in awe — taught me that I could simply be myself."
Leibovitz brought three Nikons to the shoot, along with a 105mm lens and a light meter. She was using that lens when John suddenly looked into the camera. It was precisely that photograph which was chosen for the cover of the issue carrying his interview.
In 1980, Annie photographed a naked John embracing his wife. A few hours after the shoot, the musician was killed. The cover featuring that photograph was later recognised as one of the finest of several decades.
On tour with The Rolling Stones
In 1975, Annie worked as a tour photographer for The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger, the band's lead vocalist, invited her to join the tour, and the magazine's editors agreed. She believed the project would succeed only if she fully immersed herself in the band and their way of life — becoming a chameleon. During this period she developed a drug addiction, which she only overcame after moving to New York.
Mick asked me to be their Cartier-Bresson. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that.
Several hundred metres of film were shot during the tour, yet only a handful of frames were published in the magazine. At the time, it was the most demanding and exhausting project Annie had undertaken.
Fashion shoots and portraits of world-famous stars
Work for Vogue and Vanity Fair
In the early 1980s, Annie realised she wanted to move forward and began shooting for Vanity Fair. Until then, she had been associated almost exclusively with rock and roll. This new work opened the door to the world of commercial and fashion photography. Leibovitz began placing greater emphasis on angles, style and the image of her subjects. Her mentor during this period was Bea Feitler, an influential and highly regarded designer and editor at Vanity Fair.
In 1983, Leibovitz began working with Vogue, shooting advertising campaigns and projects for Mikhail Baryshnikov, the American Ballet Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Annie's work reveals an entire world — the longer you look at her photographs, the more you appreciate the enormous effort and the team behind them. Aeroplanes, circus animals, staggering budgets on some shoots: the scale of her productions is breathtaking.
The photograph of a pregnant Demi Moore made such an impression that the issue featuring that cover lifted Vanity Fair's circulation from 800,000 to one million. Once again, Annie's work touched on a question that resonated deeply with the public — this time through the subject of the female body and pregnancy.
Annie counts Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp among those people who are simply photogenic — they only need to be themselves. The photographer doesn't have to construct anything or build a picture; their charisma and some inner quality does all the work. "It doesn't matter who photographs Marilyn Monroe. She takes charge of everything herself."
Working with celebrities
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Annie found her way with Schwarzenegger at every stage — the 28-year-old Mr. Olympia champion, the Terminator, and later the businessman and politician. The famous photograph of Arnold in Sun Valley, USA, was taken in 1997. A fierce blizzard was raging in the mountains, and Leibovitz had only a tiny window of opportunity to take the helicopter up to the right altitude and get her shots. She photographed lying face down in the snow. The resulting images justify every bit of that effort, even if conditions were so extreme that even the stylist refused to make the flight.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Marilyn Leibovitz was a dancer, and one of Annie's most vivid childhood memories is of her mother dancing on the beach. Annie has an especially intuitive eye for this art form and for movement in general, though in her book Annie Leibovitz at Work she writes that dance is impossible to photograph — it is an art that "floats in the air." "All dancers are, in the deepest sense, a photographer's dream. They communicate through their bodies and know instinctively how to collaborate." Leibovitz was always enormously energised by her work with Mikhail and his company.
The peculiarity of photography is that you either make a moment vivid, or you simply record it.
Carl Lewis
Annie is equally productive when working with athletes. Their body is an instrument they have spent a lifetime honing; they know how to pose and carry themselves in front of a camera. Her photograph of track-and-field athlete Carl Lewis was part of a series of portraits of participants in the 1996 Olympic Games, whom Leibovitz photographed during training. Almost all the shots were taken on Polaroid. Each photograph is a 'portrait of a moment,' as the photographer herself puts it.
Patti Smith
The deeper you immerse yourself in Annie Leibovitz's work, the more powerfully it begins to affect you. The photographs seem to speak to you, to tell a story. When it comes to portraiture, she has no equal. Patti Smith was struck by the image Annie made of her, and years later said she had become the person Leibovitz managed to capture. The photographer herself does not believe she can reveal the soul of her subjects — she photographs only the surface layer.
The creative union of Annie and Susan
In 1988, Susan Sontag entered Annie's life. Susan was already a celebrated writer at the time and needed promotional photographs. Notably, one of Sontag's most famous essays is devoted to photography (On Photography, 1977).
"I entered into that relationship believing I would draw closer to that greatness and raise my own work to a higher level." Susan became the most important person in Annie's life — better than anyone else, she could observe, discuss and critique her photographs.
Susan belonged entirely to the world of words, and Annie to the world of photography
Leibovitz had always wanted to make something meaningful about America, and Susan proposed a joint project on American women. In 2000 they published the book Women, with photographs by Annie and an essay by Susan. It is a composite portrait of American women from different professions, social backgrounds and faiths. The photographer realized she was capturing something that had never appeared in her work before. "I had never seen such diversity — it was deeply emotional."
Between the two women there was an extraordinarily strong emotional and intellectual bond. In 2001 Annie gave birth to a daughter, whom she and Susan named Sarah. By that point Leibovitz was 52 and Sontag 68. A few years later the two women decided to have another child, this time with the help of a surrogate mother. Susan died without seeing the newborn twins, Susan and Samuel Leibovitz. Annie photographed her companion after her death.
Life today
In 2016 Annie released a follow-up to the Women project (WOMEN: New Portraits). The new photographs were presented by her in person in ten cities. The project brought together both earlier images made in 1999 and new ones — among them Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama and Adele.
Now, in 2018, Annie Leibovitz is 69. She devotes more time to her children, continues to shoot and teaches online photography courses. Even as a young woman, when she enrolled in an arts programme, she had wanted to teach. She was told she first needed to become an artist herself. And so she did.
Other notable works
How Annie Leibovitz photographs
- She studies the work of other artists. Annie is devoted to photography, particularly the work of Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.
- Leibovitz understands that working alone means risking overlooking something important or failing to see one's own mistakes. She always talks through her photographs and shoots, and welcomes criticism.
- For Annie, photography must tell a story. That is why she prepares thoroughly — researching the personalities, previous projects and shoots of everyone she is about to work with.
- She never asks anyone to smile for the camera. Annie believes that people feel a sense of relief when they realise they don't have to perform.
- She is not afraid to fall in love with the person whose portrait she is making. 'That is what you see in my photographs.'
- She shoots with a 35mm camera.
The lead singer of The Rolling Stones once invited Annie on tour and asked her to be their Cartier-Bresson. If you don't know who that is — or have heard the name but never explored his work — we recommend reading our piece on Henri Cartier-Bresson — a legend of street photography. Losko has also published profiles of other photographers:
— Saul Leiter: painter and pioneer of colour photography
— Andreas Gursky: the most expensive photographer of our time
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