Annie Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer whose style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children in a Jewish family. Her mother was a modern dance instructor, while her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. The family moved frequently with her father's duty assignments, and she took her first pictures when he was stationed in the Philippines.
In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavours, and began to write and play music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where she studied painting. She became interested in photography after taking pictures when she lived in the Philippines, where her Air Force father was stationed during the Vietnam War. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz Amir in Israel for several months in 1969.
When Leibovitz returned to the United States in 1970, she worked for the recently launched Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of Rolling Stone. Leibovitz worked for the magazine until 1983, and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define the Rolling Stone look.
In 1975, Leibovitz served as a concert-tour photographer for The Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas.
Famous Leibovitz photographs.
- Leibovitz in front of her More Demi Moore Vanity Fair cover photo, 2008.
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the Jan. 22, 1981 Rolling Stone cover, shot the day of Lennon's death.
- Linda Ronstadt in a red slip, on her bed, reaching for a glass of water in a 1976 cover story for Rolling Stone magazine.
- Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicized Vanity Fair covers taken by Leibovitz: More Demi Moore featuring Moore pregnant and nude, and Demi's Birthday Suit, showing Moore nude with a suit painted on her body.
- Fleetwood Mac for a 1977 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood are shown lying together, as are Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham at the opposite end of the bed. John McVie is shown reading Playboy magazine.
- Brooke Shields, pregnant for the cover of Vogue in April 2003. This was the first image of a visibly pregnant woman on its cover.
- Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above.
- Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.
- David Cassidy on the infamous Rolling Stone cover depicting him naked from his head to his waist.
- Dolly Parton vamping for the camera while Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her.
- Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.
- Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, both nude, with a fully-clothed Tom Ford, for the cover of Vanity Fair's March 2006 Hollywood Issue. [30][31]
- Queen Elizabeth II on occasion of her state visit in United States in 2007.
- Sting in the desert, covered in mud to blend in with the scenery.
- Closeup portrait of Pete Townshend framed by his bleeding hand dripping real blood down the side of his face.
- "Fire" portrait and caption "Patti Smith Catches Fire".
- Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual and True Colors album covers
- Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. album cover.
- Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James on the April 2008 cover of Vogue America.
- Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photo in which the young star appeared semi-nude, leading to a controversy.
- Michael Jackson twice for the cover of the Vanity Fair magazine, including other additional photographs of him which were not featured on the cover of the magazine.
- Bill Gates for the cover of Gates' book "The Road Ahead".
Leibovitz's photography books
- Photographs
- Photographs 1970–1990
- Olympic Portraits
- Women
- American Music
- A Photographer’s Life 1990–2005 (catalog for a travelling exhibit that debuted at the Brooklyn Museum in October 2006)
- Annie Leibovitz: At Work.
Life Throught The Lens
Google Search: Annie Leibovitz