Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz
She was born on 10/2/49 she is a portrait photographer
That is such a simple and understated recap of this very talented person. Her life has been and continues to be on the cutting edge of simple creativity when she works with a subject.
From her early days as a staff photographer with Rolling Stone Magazine thru her stint as traveling tour photog for the ROLLING STONES and into her work as contributor for Vanity Fair and everything in between....she has shown a supreme knack to pull out the character of her subject[s].
She was pushed into a higher level of accomplishment by her life partner Susan Sontag from 1989 thru her death in 2004. The combination of these two minds in developing style and substance was evident every time she picked up the lens.
A lot of people google and blog about the equipment Annie uses, but even she will reply that it is not the equipment that will make the shot. Better equipment is useful and a primary reason she is able to accomplish the shots as she envisions them, But rest assured, her mind set comes first, and if she only had her trusty iPhone, she will still produce the results she desires.
The list of iconic portraits from the Lennon-Ono shot she did just five hours before John was killed later that day on Dec. 8, 1980 to the Arnold Schwarzenegger work, the Queen of England, the Demi Moore nude and very pregnant, and the list goes on.
Ads, magazine articles and covers, you name it, the touch of Annie is all around us. You might not even know it is her work unless you look closely, as her style is subtle and diverse.
Why I admire her mostly is the ability of her to get in the photo, the essence of the subject. The humor, the sadness, the power and strength, the fragility, the regal look of a Queen standing in a grounds area.
And how does she do it? This is the art and talent that one possesses. She has that unique ability to first vision her shot, and what the lighting should be, the setting, the costume, the pose, down to the very minute detail.
We all likely have the unrestricted capability to think similarly talents thoughts, right? LET'S SAY YES TO THAT, just to get us past the hump so to speak.
Now this is where the girls are separated from the women [notice how I used a feminine approach to the classic men from boys analogy?] Annie [yes it is a bit presumptuous for me to keep using the name Annie, like I know her or she I, but it is a heck of lot easier to type than Leibovitz every time.
Where was I? Oh, I was about to reveal the punch line ...
Wait for it!!!!!!!
Annie [did it again!] has that ability to get the subject to perform as she wants [in the many areas of detail, from location, time of day, type of lighting and environment being exposed to, pose, facial expression, details mind you...details!]
There are a number of videos out there showing her work her magic while on a set. The placement of the equipment is almost secondary and irrelevant to the way she directs her subjects in THEIR actions. Imagine telling the Queen of England what to do! Gonads galore one might say. And she does it with the ease as you or I might ask for a soft drink at a restaurant.
Surely she does NOT always get her way, and the subject might not perform things just as she had hoped. And yes every shot is not an iconic gem. But this never discourages her, she still puts forth the effort each and every time and still tries to plan out her shots, and anticipate every possibility and nuance that a high profile subject might bring to the event. But even less famous folk have their own needs, and she accommodates those as well. Not everyone she works with is a movie star or living legend in their field.
RECAP for my own edification:
PLAN - VISION - work hard to pull together all the assets and necessary items to accomplish said VISION
Convince the subject that they should do as you say [yada yada yada, details, demonstrations, whatever it takes to get them on board]
Have the equipment ready to shoot
SHOOT the shot
It's a wrap!
Recently I rented space at a local professional studio for three months. And I then went about finding and scheduling time with models. All ages, male and female, for fashion, for art, for whatever was in the mind of both the model and my creative mindset.
I consulted with each model, got them to understand the boundaries and requirements. They were asked to produce a concept of what they wanted out of the shoot. I would communicate what it was I would be attempting to get out of it as well. I then would plan out my lighting schemes, do I need an assistant, a make up assistance, what ever....plan it, vision it, set up the set, and shoot it.
I would show the work after each wardrobe change, to ensure we got the look and feel right for both sides. We would analyze the results, the posing, the lighting, the camera, the wardrobe, each detail of the shot.
After the three months of work, I had thousands of frames, worked with 15 different models in various combinations and the one thing I felt good about, no really good about, is that when I got my mind set on paper, and was able to establish the correct lighting scheme and then got the model in front of the camera, I was able to direct things on the spot, and produce the kind of output I had envisioned. It may be good, or not, but I did what I had set out to do in many cases.
And there were plenty of situations I was not getting the desired results. And in the end, whether it was the models fault [bad hair day, out drinking the night before and has no energy and or puffy eyes] or the equipments fault [something breaks and is not usable] for MY FAILURE TO PRODUCE, it was MY FAULT.
I
TAKE
FULL
RESPONSIBILITY
And I share the success ...it makes for a sound business practice.
I also learned the total time commitment necessary for producing such work. The planning, the equipment and prop gathering, the phone calls, the emails, the text messaging, the reminders right up to the moment of the planned shoot [yes one model did stand me up totally...I got stuck for the studio rental with not a single frame to use]
On the day of the shoot, planning out the lighting, setting up the lighting, cleaning the lenses, prepping the cameras, the batteries, the media cards, everything on the check list.
Bring drinks, snacks, set up seating a dressing area, parking, directions, you name it.
The shoot itself was practically a relief as it went easy and was really fun. But almost too quick based on the immense build up.
After all of this learning curve, I do truly admire Annie even more so, as I see her do all this with the ease of picking up a camera, any camera and shooting.
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