Given the boldness and confidence of her photographs, you might expect Annie Leibovitz to be brash and overbearing, but in fact she's very thoughtful and, despite her decades of success and fame, she's uncertain about her work. Giving a slideshow of her images at a Chelsea gallery in November 2006, many times she looked at the screen and said, "I'm not sure that even is a photograph," saying instead it was simply a record of the moment. After Susan Sontag, her partner of fifteen years, died at the end of 2004, Leibovitz worried that she had never truly captured her on film. (Her favorite picture of Susan is this one by Peter Hujar.) She told wry stories about Susan complaining that Annie never took any pictures of them at home or on trips, and how Susan always ended up mad when they did a shoot for her book jacket photos. Leibovitz gave birth at 52 to her first child, Sarah Cameron Leibovitz, whom she named in honor of pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, and had twin daughters, Susan and Samuelle, via a surrogate mother four years later, five months after Sontag's death. Her father always insisted the six Leibovitz children smile for photographs, which Annie felt was hugely unfair and fake. Forty-odd years later, Leibovitz struggled to take an important portrait of her mother, who was ill. (She showed us the image, a beautiful black-and-white picture taken outdoors with natural light.) Her father hated it. He said, "She's not smiling!"
Among her favorite photographers are Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, and Richard Avedon. Leibovitz told the crowd that after Rolling Stone ran her photo of Bette Midler lying among roses, Avedon sent Jann Wenner a letter to say "the cover worked out." Leibovitz's editor interrupted her to explain, "Avedon said it was the best photograph of the last 20 years." Technological advances have allowed her to create images that are not what they seem: Many of her group portraits are photoshopped, joining subjects shot alone. Of the 20 covers for Vanity Fair's Africa issue, only two of the pairings seen sharing a whisper or leaning on each other were actually photographed together. On the other hand, she does her own stunts. She stood unsecured on one of the Chrysler Building's gargoyles off the 61st floor to photograph dancer David Parsons who posed nearby. It was a windy day. She didn't fall. John Loengard got the shot.
Leibovitz will be at the Union Square B&N on December 11 promoting her new book, At Work, which goes on sale November 18.
Right now you can watch her at work in this video, shooting a "feisty" Queen Elizabeth II. At least watch until Leibovitz suggests the monarch remove her tiara [which Annie endearingly calls her crown] because it would be "less dressy." Two words Her Majesty repeats in abject horror and indignation, very probably having never heard them spoken before.
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Posted by: rochii | September 17, 2013 at 04:49 AM