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.
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