Annie Leibovitz
Personal History
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz was born in Waterbury Connecticut, in 1949. While her father’s job as a Lieutenant Colonel in the air force caused her to move often, her mother’s job as a dance instructor introduced her to dance and art. Leibovitz first began photographing in the 1960s when her father was stationed in the Philippines for the Vietnam War. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967, studying painting. Her dream was to be an art teacher. However, she found her true calling in photography several months after.
Style
The famous Rolling Stone and Vanity fair photographer is known for her portraits. It has been said that Leibovitz has a unique skill for exaggerating her subjects unique features. She has photographed many well known celebrities in a quirky and slightly whimsical way. In fact, she photographed the last picture of John
Lennon before he was assassinated. Her style is consistently well lit, and very crisp.
Philosophy
Leibovitz’s photographs have a realist feel. They capture everyday occurrences, often including small details others don’t think much about. Her portraits were gritty, honest, and often at least partially nude. Even her commercial shoots had interesting, unique poses and angles. Her weird props and gritty honesty showed everyone a look in to the way she sees the world.
Influences
I love the way Leibovitz took an average, everyday scene and turned it into a work of art. I tried to channel that by taking a closer look at scenes I would have ignored. Many of my pictures were of normal, not necessarily aesthetically pleasing objects around my house. I also tried to think of new and unique poses for my subjects to make the pictures more visually interesting. I made many of my pictures have a quirky look to them, as shown in my portraits, often taken in a spur of the moment setting.
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz was born in Waterbury Connecticut, in 1949. While her father’s job as a Lieutenant Colonel in the air force caused her to move often, her mother’s job as a dance instructor introduced her to dance and art. Leibovitz first began photographing in the 1960s when her father was stationed in the Philippines for the Vietnam War. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967, studying painting. Her dream was to be an art teacher. However, she found her true calling in photography several months after.
Style
The famous Rolling Stone and Vanity fair photographer is known for her portraits. It has been said that Leibovitz has a unique skill for exaggerating her subjects unique features. She has photographed many well known celebrities in a quirky and slightly whimsical way. In fact, she photographed the last picture of John
Lennon before he was assassinated. Her style is consistently well lit, and very crisp.
Philosophy
Leibovitz’s photographs have a realist feel. They capture everyday occurrences, often including small details others don’t think much about. Her portraits were gritty, honest, and often at least partially nude. Even her commercial shoots had interesting, unique poses and angles. Her weird props and gritty honesty showed everyone a look in to the way she sees the world.
Influences
I love the way Leibovitz took an average, everyday scene and turned it into a work of art. I tried to channel that by taking a closer look at scenes I would have ignored. Many of my pictures were of normal, not necessarily aesthetically pleasing objects around my house. I also tried to think of new and unique poses for my subjects to make the pictures more visually interesting. I made many of my pictures have a quirky look to them, as shown in my portraits, often taken in a spur of the moment setting.
Compare and contrast
I think overall I did a good job of showing obvious inspirations and parallels in my photos and Leibovitz's. In the first picture (inspired by the one with Leonardo DiCaprio), I was at first concerned that my dog wearing his toy like DiCaprio held the swan would come across as a parody. But, in the end, I think the change in background (mine indoors, Leibovitz's in a field), as well as the change in pose and position created enough differences for my image to come across as inspired artistically, rather than just a funny dog imitating a person. The picture of my mom, inspired by the one of Angelina Jolie, was also quite similar, given the shadowy background parallel. However, my picture is more soft, with less contrast, than Leibovitz's. My mom's expression is gentler than Jolie's, but also she seems to be more enveloped by the shadows, rather than being starkly contrasted to them like Jolie was. And finally, the picture of my dad versus the Rolling Stone cover. My dad's pose is completely different than the picture of Leibovitz's, however I imitated the picture quality and contrast well. My dad's serious and unplanned expression is also very similar to picture, despite him lounging while the counterpart stood.
I think overall I did a good job of showing obvious inspirations and parallels in my photos and Leibovitz's. In the first picture (inspired by the one with Leonardo DiCaprio), I was at first concerned that my dog wearing his toy like DiCaprio held the swan would come across as a parody. But, in the end, I think the change in background (mine indoors, Leibovitz's in a field), as well as the change in pose and position created enough differences for my image to come across as inspired artistically, rather than just a funny dog imitating a person. The picture of my mom, inspired by the one of Angelina Jolie, was also quite similar, given the shadowy background parallel. However, my picture is more soft, with less contrast, than Leibovitz's. My mom's expression is gentler than Jolie's, but also she seems to be more enveloped by the shadows, rather than being starkly contrasted to them like Jolie was. And finally, the picture of my dad versus the Rolling Stone cover. My dad's pose is completely different than the picture of Leibovitz's, however I imitated the picture quality and contrast well. My dad's serious and unplanned expression is also very similar to picture, despite him lounging while the counterpart stood.