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Homage to Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz

Homage by Carolyn Foster

“When I take a picture I take 10 percent of what I see.”

– Annie Leibovitz 

Photographer Annie Leibovitz was born October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. 

Considered one of America's best portrait photographers, Annie, developed her trademark use of bold colours and poses while at Rolling Stone.

In 1983, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone and began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair. With a wider array of subjects, Leibovitz’s photographs for Vanity Fair ranged from presidents to literary icons to teen heartthrobs. 

During the late 1980s, Leibovitz started to work on a number of high-profile advertising campaigns. The most notable was the American Express “Membership” campaign, which featured portraits of celebrity cardholders, like Elmore Leonard, Tom Selleck, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Her most famous photographs are of famously rich people, but she is a chicken-soup kind of woman who gets nervous when she’s on the other end of the lens. 

The Pilgrimage

One of the main influences in Leibovitz’s life was Susan Sontag.  They were partners for fifteen years until Sontag’s death in 2004.

“The Beauty Book” was the original title for Leibovitz’s pilgrimage work.  It was a project dreamed up by the couple as, in Leibovitz’s words, “an excuse for us to travel around to places we cared about and wanted to see.”

Annie hit a rough patch in her life by 2009.  She had lost long-time lover Susan Sontag, as well as her father, and was in the midst of a public financial crisis that put the rights to all of her photographs up for collateral in exchange for $15.5 million.

So in the midst of financial turmoil, the renowned celebrity photographer needed a way to refuel. Her solution: a bucket list of influential people and places to visit and photograph. The series, ‘Pilgrimage’, takes inspiration from her late companion, Susan Sontag.

My Pilgrimage

I chose to do a pilgrimage on Ben Chifley, but really it ended up being a pilgrimage about his wife.

Joseph Benedict "Ben" Chifley was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949.  He was born in Bathurst, grew up in Bathurst and was buried in Bathurst.

In 1912 he met his future wife Elizabeth.  Elizabeth's parents on the occasion of her wedding present was tenancy (gifted in 1920) of a modest house at 10 Busby Street, Bathurst of which the couple retained for the rest of their lives.