Photographer of the Week

Annie Leibovitz is considered one of America's best portrait photographers. She was born in Connecticut in October of 1949. Raised with five other children, Annie's mother was a dance instructor and her father was an Air Force lieutenant. Because of her father's job, Annies family moved around a lot. In 1967, Annie went to study painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she discovered her love for photography. In 1970, Leibovitz applied for a job with the magazine Rolling Stone. At first, Annie was given a job as staff photographer, but within just 2 years, she was promoted to chief photographer. Because of her job, Leibovitz was permitted to go on tour with the Rolling Stones band in 1975. This was a huge opportunity for her, however Leibovitz ¨lost herself from the experience¨ and ended up with an immobilizing drug addiction. While employed by Rolling Stone, Annie discovered her ¨trademark technique¨, which usually consisted of extremely bold and surprising poses. Annie's portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono is considered one of her most iconic works done at Rolling Stone. This portrait was undoubtedly her claim to fame. It was labeled as ¨one of history's greatest images of both love and loss¨ in reference to Lennon's death shortly after the photo was taken.

    In 1983, Annie left Rolling Stone and instead started working for Vanity Fair. It was here that Leibovitz started working with a wider variety of people. It was also this time that her shoots became much more expensive due to the kinds of people she was now shooting, such as the president or other extremely famous or well-known stars. One of Annie's most well-known projects was her portraits for American Express.

    Annie Leibovitz was in a relationship with Susan Sontag for 15 years before Susan died in 2004. Leibovitz is the mother of 3 girls, 2 of which are twins. 

This is my favorite photo by Annie Leibovitz because the quality and texture is amazing. 

(also i’m just kind of a huge fan of Angelina Jolie🤭)