Everyone in the Photography field knows the name - Annie Leibovitz. Any list of famous photographers wouldn't be complete without mentioning Annie Leibovitz. She's one of the most iconic photographers of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries and certainly one of the most celebrated female photographers. Annie was the first female lead photographer for Rolling Stone magazine but has also shot for world-renowned publications like Vanity Fair and Vogue.

No list of famous photographers would be complete without mentioning Annie Leibovitz. She's one of the most iconic photographers of the 21st Century and certainly one of the most celebrated female photographers. Annie was the first female lead photographer for Rolling Stone magazine and shot world-renowned publications like Vanity Fair and Vogue.

Her career has notably featured shooting names like Dolly Parton, Brad Pitt, and John Lennon on the day of his death. But Annie is also famed for her non-portrait work, displayed in museums and art galleries worldwide.

Annie's photography has justifiably earned her numerous awards and accolades, the most notable being the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Centre for Photography and the prestigious Wexner Prize. But her most creative work is her elegant, high-fashion editorial shoots that are more often than not on location. Much of Annie's work contains muted tones, but they're anything but boring.

Her career has notably featured shooting names like Dolly Parton, Brad Pitt, and John Lennon on the day of his death. But Annie is also famed for her non-portrait work, displayed in museums and art galleries worldwide.

Annie's photography has justifiably earned her numerous awards and accolades, the most notable being the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Centre for Photography and the prestigious Wexner Prize. But her most creative work is her elegant, high-fashion editorial shoots that are more often than not on location. Much of Annie's work contains muted tones, but they're anything but boring.

A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people ~ Annie Leibovitz

Who Is Annie Leibovitz?

Annie Leibovitz (born October 2, 1949) is an American photographer. She is best known for her portraits of political figures, musicians, and athletes, regularly featured in magazines, fashion, and advertising. Many of Leibovitz's portraits of rock music celebrities have become signature images. A notable example is her portrait of the nude John Lennon on a bed with his fully clothed wife, Yoko Ono, the last Lennon portrait before his death in 1980.

She landed a job at Rolling Stone and created a distinctive look for the publication as chief photographer. In 1983, she began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair, producing images that would be deemed iconic and provocative. While working on high-profile advertising campaigns, Leibovitz's photographs have been showcased in several books and major exhibitions worldwide. 

Born in Westport, Connecticut, in 1949, Leibovitz received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1971. She subsequently continued her studies with photographer Ralph Gibson. In 1969 she lived on a kibbutz in Israel and participated in an archaeological dig at King Solomon's temple. From 1970 to 1983, she was a freelance photographer and the chief photographer for Rolling Stone magazine, and in 1975 she served as a concert-tour photographer for The Rolling Stones band. She has been a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine since 1983, and in the early 1990s, she founded the Annie Leibovitz Studio in New York City.

The camera makes you forget you're there. It's not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much ~Annie Leibovitz

Early Life and Chief Photographer for Rolling Stones

Anna-Lou Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on October 2, 1949. She was one of six children born to Sam, an Air Force lieutenant, and Marilyn Leibovitz, a modern dance instructor. In 1967, Leibovitz enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she studied painting and developed a love for photography.

After living briefly on an Israeli kibbutz, she returned to the United States and applied for a job with the start-up rock music magazine Rolling Stone in 1970. Impressed with Leibovitz's portfolio, which included an image of counter-culture icon Allen Ginsberg, editor Jann Wenner offered her a job as a staff photographer. Within two years, the 23-year-old Leibovitz began her career as chief photographer, a title she would hold for the next decade. Her position with the magazine allowed her to accompany the Rolling Stones band on their 1975 international tour. However, she lost herself from experience and grappled with crippling drug addiction.

While with Rolling Stone, Leibovitz developed her trademark technique, which involved bold primary colors and dramatic poses, as seen with a 1979 Bette Midler cover inspired by the rock music film The Rose. Leibovitz is credited with making many Rolling Stone covers collector's items, including an issue that featured a nude John Lennon curled around his wife, Yoko Ono. On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz's famous Polaroid of the former Beatle was shot just hours before his death.

At my Rolling Stones' tour, the camera was a protection. I used it in a Zen way ~ Annie Leibovitz

Iconic Covers for Vanity Fair

In 1983, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone and began working for Vanity Fair. With a broader array of subjects, Leibovitz's photographs for the magazine ranged from presidents to literary icons to teen heartthrobs. Leibovitz's shoots also became known for over-the-top budgets that would later be at the center of significant financial challenges.

Several Vanity Fair covers have featured Leibovitz's stunning—and often controversial—portraits of celebrities. Demi Moore, pregnant and nude, followed by a body painting shoot, Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub of milk, and Sylvester Stallone appearing nude in a pose inspired by Rodin's "The Thinker" are among the most remembered celebs to grace the cover. Known for her ability to make her sitters become physically involved in her work, another of Leibovitz's most famous portraits is of the late artist Keith Haring, who painted himself like a canvas for the photo.

There's an idea that it's hard to be a woman artist. People assume that women have fewer opportunities, less power. But it's not any harder to be a woman artist than to be a male artist. We all take what we are given and use the parts of ourselves that feed the work. We make our way. Photographers, men and women, are particularly lucky. Photography lets you find yourself. It is a passport to people and places and to possibilities.
~ Annie Leibovitz

The Book Women 1999

Widely considered one of America's best portrait photographers, Leibovitz published The Book Women (1999), accompanied by an essay by her romantic partner, famed intellectual Susan Sontag. With its title subject matter, Leibovitz presented an array of female images, from Supreme Court justices to Vegas showgirls to coal miners and farmers. The project is continued as a traveling exhibition, making a London debut in January 2016. 

When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph
~ Annie Leibovitz

The Atlanta Summer Olympics

During the 1980s, Leibovitz started working on several high-profile advertising campaigns. One of her most notable projects was for American Express, for which her portraits of celebrity cardholders like Elmore Leonard, Tom Selleck, and Luciano Pavarotti earned her a 1987 Clio Award.

In 1991, Leibovitz's more than 200 photographs were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. She was the first woman to be so honored. Later that year, a book was published to accompany the show titled Photographs: Annie Leibovitz, 1970-1990. In 1996, Leibovitz worked as the official photographer of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. A compilation of her black-and-white portraits of American athletes, including Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson, was published in the book Olympic Portraits.

If I didn't have my camera to remind me constantly, I am here to do this, I would eventually have slipped away, I think
~ Annie Leibovitz

The Book American Music 2003

In 2003, Leibovitz published the book American Music, emphasizing essential figures in blues, country, folk, hip-hop, and jazz. Then in 2006, the Brooklyn Museum of Art presented the retrospective  - Annie Leibovitz -  A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, with a related book published as well. This was later followed by a touring exhibition that debuted in Washington, D.C., in 2012 and focused on items associated with famous figures like Abraham Lincoln and Marian Anderson. 

Things happen in front of you. That's perhaps the most wonderful and mysterious aspect of photography. It seemed like you just had to decide when and where to aim the camera. The process was linear and it never stopped. That's still true, although I've traded in my need for always taking pictures. I can't let them go by sometimes now and just be there. ~ Annie Leibovitz, Annie Leibovitz at Work

The Pirelli calendar 2016

As busy as ever, Leibovitz continues to be in demand as a photographer, working on projects that range from a 2014 Marcs & Spencer advertising campaign to the 2016 calendar for the tire manufacturer Pirelli. For the latter, Leibovitz featured mostly clothed women from various backgrounds and ages in contrast to the images of scantily clad models from previous calendars. 

When it comes to appreciating the mature work of iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz, as her late partner Susan Sontag might say, context is everything. Sontag did say, observing in On Photography, "A photograph changes according to the context in which it is seen." She meant this in terms of the literal setting in which a given image is encountered - book, gallery, news journal, singly, in a series, and as a function of the historical zeitgeist. In the case of Leibovitz's current turn on the world stage, it is a question of both.

Her new touring exhibition "Women: New Portraits" and her curation of the 2016 Pirelli Calendar each signaled both a return and a fresh departure, revisiting her 1999 book "Women" and her nearly concurrent helming of the Pirelli Calendar in 2000. It's more than a simple set of sequels. It's a double rainbow of a narrative arc with both conceptual and creative symmetry that provides an exceptional opportunity to take stock of her work as an artist on its merits and use it as she intended - as a barometer of our cultural moment. 

“I don't have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it. ~ Annie Leibovitz, A Photographer's Life 1990-2000

There's an idea that it's hard to be a woman artist. People assume that women have fewer opportunities, less power. But it's not any harder to be a woman artist than to be a male artist. We all take what we are given and use the parts of ourselves that feed the work. We make our way. Photographers, men and women, are particularly lucky. Photography lets you find yourself. It is a passport to people and places and to possibilities. ~ Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz was in a relationship with writer and essayist Susan Sontag. The two women traveled globally and found interconnections with their work, with Sontag encouraging Leibovitz to become more intimate with her photography. Leibovitz and Sontag were in a 15-year relationship that ended with Sontag's death in 2004, with Leibovitz's father passing away just weeks later. Leibovitz is also the mother of three children. At the age of 51, she had her daughter, Sarah. In 2005, twin daughters Susan and Samuelle were born with the help of a surrogate mother.

Leibovitz and Sontag were in a 15-year relationship that ended with Sontag's death in 2004, with Leibovitz's father passing away just weeks later. The two women traveled globally and found interconnections with their work, with Sontag encouraging Leibovitz to become more intimate with her photography. 

Leibovitz is also the mother of three children. At the age of 51, she had her daughter, Sarah. In 2005, twin daughters Susan and Samuelle were born with the help of a surrogate mother.

For me, the story about the pictures is about almost losing myself, and coming back, and what it means to be deeply involved in a subject. The thing that saved me was that I had my camera by my side. It was there to remind me who I was and what I did. It separated me from them.
~ Annie Leibovitz, Annie Leibovitz at Work

The iconic image below of young Cosette is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Les Misérables; the vibrancy of the eyes juxtaposing the otherwise drab colour palette that captures the despair and desperation of the French proletariat. Annie’s mastery of lighting is incredible, yet she often keeps it minimal; regularly just using one light and an umbrella to shoot her portraits. “A light meter is only a guide. It shouldn’t be used literally,” writes Annie in her book, At Work. “When I decided to tone down the strobe, we made it even with the natural light rather than being a stop over. Then we went a stop or two under the natural light. I liked the way things looked when they were barely lit. The darker pictures seemed refined, mysterious.” So, don’t be afraid to get close and get intimate with your lighting to create soft shadows that wrap around the subject in a way that accentuates the cheekbones in just the right way.

Like portrait photographer Arnold Newman, Leibovitz has contrived in her work to emphasize some aspect of each subject's public persona. Using the whole of the subject's body, typically captured amid physical action, Leibovitz achieves her effects without apparent artificiality and with a flair, often outrageous, that sets her work apart from other portrait artists. Leibovitz's advertising work, to which she brings a similar freshness and drama, has attracted many people.