Born on Oct 2, 1949, in Westbury, Connecticut, Annie Leibovitz, nick-named Anna-Lou, began her studies in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967. In the second year, she, with change of interest, switched over to photography.
Post graduation, the period 1973-1983 saw Annie Leibovitz working as Chief Photographer with Rolling Stone, a fledgling magazine. She set her own trend then which portrayed too many bright main colors, detailed stage settings and strange postures. She also focused on shooting rock ‘n’ roll leading dancers who included The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and The Beatles. While at Rolling Stone, she made 142 cover shots to her credit.
Annie’s works:
Vanity Fair magazine where Leibovitz had a job in 1983, provided her ample scope for dealing with subjects of celebrated artistes. It was then that she published her first collection Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, a book connected with display of 60 of her copies. Widely circulated in the US and Europe, its popularity soared.
Surprisingly, Leibovitz took snaps of nude Goldberg in a milk-filled bathtub, and Demi Moore carrying and bare-bodied. Then she started engaging in business activities for concerns like Honda, American Express and The Gap which crowned her with a Clio Award in 1987.
Her photo works first found a place in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. in 1991 accompanied by a related book of 242 photos, Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990. The show was a resounding success, with a 6-year tour.
It’s really a great honour for Leibovitz when she became the official photographer for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Taking photos of celebrity athletes in training, she again made a book of the photos, Olympic portraits.
Annie Leibovitz released in1999 yet another book containing photos of women, called “Women” and an essay by Susan Sontag. She released another book A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005 connected with a show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, personally called by her as “Memoirs in Photographs” in 2006 as it featured her own photos with celebrities.
Annie landed herself again in a dispute for her photo of a scantily-clad Miley Cirus that was found on Vanity Fair magazine. Some criticized it as too sexual, while Leibovitz justified it saying it was only wrongly interpreted.
Personal life:
Annie Leibovitz’s first encounter with Susan Sontag happened when she went for taking shots of Susan for the book “Aids and its Metaphors” in 1989. A romantic relationship blossomed since then between the two that lasted until Sontag’s demise in 2004.
Leibovitz gave birth to a baby girl named Sarah in 2001. Through a surrogate mother, she further had two girls in 2005, named Susan and Samuelle, named after husband Susan Sontag and father Samuel. For her involvement and contributions to photography, she’s considered a legend.
Post graduation, the period 1973-1983 saw Annie Leibovitz working as Chief Photographer with Rolling Stone, a fledgling magazine. She set her own trend then which portrayed too many bright main colors, detailed stage settings and strange postures. She also focused on shooting rock ‘n’ roll leading dancers who included The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and The Beatles. While at Rolling Stone, she made 142 cover shots to her credit.
Annie’s works:
Vanity Fair magazine where Leibovitz had a job in 1983, provided her ample scope for dealing with subjects of celebrated artistes. It was then that she published her first collection Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, a book connected with display of 60 of her copies. Widely circulated in the US and Europe, its popularity soared.
Surprisingly, Leibovitz took snaps of nude Goldberg in a milk-filled bathtub, and Demi Moore carrying and bare-bodied. Then she started engaging in business activities for concerns like Honda, American Express and The Gap which crowned her with a Clio Award in 1987.
Her photo works first found a place in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. in 1991 accompanied by a related book of 242 photos, Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990. The show was a resounding success, with a 6-year tour.
It’s really a great honour for Leibovitz when she became the official photographer for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Taking photos of celebrity athletes in training, she again made a book of the photos, Olympic portraits.
Annie Leibovitz released in1999 yet another book containing photos of women, called “Women” and an essay by Susan Sontag. She released another book A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005 connected with a show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, personally called by her as “Memoirs in Photographs” in 2006 as it featured her own photos with celebrities.
Annie landed herself again in a dispute for her photo of a scantily-clad Miley Cirus that was found on Vanity Fair magazine. Some criticized it as too sexual, while Leibovitz justified it saying it was only wrongly interpreted.
Personal life:
Annie Leibovitz’s first encounter with Susan Sontag happened when she went for taking shots of Susan for the book “Aids and its Metaphors” in 1989. A romantic relationship blossomed since then between the two that lasted until Sontag’s demise in 2004.
Leibovitz gave birth to a baby girl named Sarah in 2001. Through a surrogate mother, she further had two girls in 2005, named Susan and Samuelle, named after husband Susan Sontag and father Samuel. For her involvement and contributions to photography, she’s considered a legend.