Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz, considered one of America’s best portrait photographers, developed her trademark use of bold colors and poses while at ‘Rolling Stone.’
In 1970 she landed a job at Rolling Stone and went on to create a distinctive look for the publication as chief photographer. In 1983 she began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair, continuing to produce images that would be deemed iconic and provocative. Having also worked on high-profile advertising campaigns, Leibovitz’s images have been showcased in several books and major exhibitions around the world.
Rolling Stone
When Leibovitz returned to the United States in 1970, she started her career as staff photographer, working for Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of Rolling Stone, a job she would hold for 10 years. Leibovitz worked for the magazine until 1983, and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define the Rolling Stone look.
While working for Rolling Stone, Leibovitz became more aware of the other magazines and learned that she could work for magazines and still create personal work, which for her was the most important. She sought intimate moments with her subjects, who
“open their hearts and souls and lives to you”.
The Rolling Stones
Leibovitz photographed the Rolling Stones in San Francisco in 1971 and 1972, and served as the concert-tour photographer for the Rolling Stones’ Tour of the Americas ’75. Her favorite photo from the tour was a photo of Mick Jagger in an elevator.
John Lennon
On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, and she promised him he would make the cover.[9][10] She had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, as Rolling Stone wanted, but Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to re-create something like the kissing scene from the couple’s Double Fantasy 1980 album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved, and she had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko on the floor. Leibovitz recalls,
“What is interesting is she said she’d take her top off and I said, ‘Leave everything on’ — not really preconceiving the picture at all. Then he curled up next to her and it was very, very strong. You couldn’t help but feel that he was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her. I think it was amazing to look at the first Polaroid and they were both very excited. John said, ‘You’ve captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it’ll be on the cover.’ I looked him in the eye and we shook on it.”
‘Vanity Fair’
In 1983, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone and began working for Vanity Fair. With a wider array of subjects, Leibovitz’s photographs for the magazine ranged from presidents to literary icons to teen heartthrobs.
To date, a number of Vanity Fair covers have featured Leibovitz’s stunning — and often controversial — portraits of celebrities. Demi Moore (very pregnant and very nude followed by a body painting shoot), Whoopi Goldberg (half-submerged in a bathtub of milk), Sylvester Stallone (appearing nude in a pose inspired by Rodin’s “The Thinker”) and Caitlyn Jenner (in a corset after having publicly revealed her identity as a woman) are among the most remembered celebs to grace the cover.
Reference:
