how disappointing

wayne naughton · Jan 28, 2009

i know that there are a lot of Annie Leibovitz fans out there in APUG land but, gee, her contribution to the December issue of Vanity Fair really stinks. This chick is just past it, burnt out. i reckon she ought to hang up her hassy and retire to the bahamas tout suite.....

Pinholemaster · Jan 28, 2009

She hasn't used a 'hassy' in decades. She's a Mamiya shooter.

Sounds like her latest crop of assistants aren't setting up the images to your liking. Grin.

With the demands put on her, I'm surprised her shooting star hasn't burn out a long time ago. Also you've got to remember, the editors of Vanity Fair call the shots. The Newhouse family who own Condé Nast that published Vanity Fair only cares about the bottom line in the strongest terms of the business. Editors do not forget this, so the magazine is extremely micro-managed.

wayne naughton · Jan 28, 2009

shucks, there goes the alliteration....grin...one thing tho, i'll never buy another magazine on the strength of a promised A.L. spread. which is sad....

wayne

iamzip · Jan 28, 2009

What was it? Was it the Motown spread? Can you link to it? I don't normally read Vanity Fair.

Anscojohn · Jan 28, 2009

I have, from the get-go, always been mildly disgusted with the output of Leibowitz. Rarely, in my opinion, do real photographers make a living solely because of human subject matter; but she has done so by taking pictures of celebrities. Celebrities, "those well-known for their well-knowness." Harrumph!

MikeSeb · Jan 28, 2009

It's odd, this fascination with Annie Leibovitz. Everyone seems to love to hate her. Why is that?

Whether she takes "good" or "bad" photographs doesn't really affect me, or us here on APUG. Not picking on you, Wayne, or anyone else who's responded; it just seems odd that some are so fixated on the woman. Maybe some of her detractors are as much infected by the "celebrity culture" as they seem to think she is.

Evidently someone likes at least some of her work; they still pay her to do it.

And no, I'm not her brother-in-law or anything....

Dinesh · Jan 28, 2009

I haven't seen any of her new stuff, but I am a big fan of her old images. (Rolling Stone years)

nyoung · Jan 28, 2009

This thread kind of reminds me of a NPPA Flying Short Course years ago. We had a presentation by Sam Abell who spoke at length about the "horizontality" of pictures he had recently published in a National Geographic feature on the western painter John Russell. It included a great deal of work in Montana.

Leaving the session most of the shooters - representing mostly 7-day-a-week newspapers were snickering about Sam's pretentiousness and artsy-fartsy use of "horizontality" "How could he presume to lecture us, who often have to produce a photo story or two per-day as opposed to his three or four per year?"

I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, Sam's the guy with the job you all say you want - the NG contract - maybe you ought to pay attention to what he's doing instead of critiquing the presentation.

Leibowitz is a portrait photographer. What she does not dissimilar from the thousands of portrait/wedding shooters scatered all around the globe EXCEPT she has promoted herself in such a way as to do only celebrity portraits for the biggest and publications. I figure that "making a living solely because of the human subject matter" is pretty much what "REAL" portrait photographers do.

As I see it, she's not that different from my friends who have worked hard enough and smart enough to build reputations that allow them to charge their wedding clients in five figures for the "basic" package.

You or I might disagree with a photo or a spread from one of these folks BUT wiser heads will respect and study the careers of those who have risen to the top of this highly competitive and cut-throat business.

PVia · Jan 28, 2009

Agree with nyoung above completely...

Everyone loves to hate her, and anything else that becomes successful and ubiquitous, ie, Microsoft, Starbucks, you name it etc...

She gets a lot of money for her assignments, but she also puts up with an unbelievable amount of BS from clients. It's a huge headache.

BTW, her new book has some beautiful photographs in it, printed wonderfully in a matte/semi-varnish, printed smallish, each one illustrating a particular anecdote from a particular job she's had, complete with gear info in the appendix for those who are into that kind of thing rather than the photos themselves. It's more a reading book than picture book, although you can finish it in a day.

PVia · Jan 28, 2009

Anscojohn said:
Rarely, in my opinion, do real photographers make a living solely because of human subject matter; but she has done so by taking pictures of celebrities. Celebrities, "those well-known for their well-knowness." Harrumph!

Have you ever seen Irving Penn's work? How about Karsh? Does Avedon ring a bell?

Geez...sometimes...

bill schwab · Jan 28, 2009

MikeSeb said:
It's odd, this fascination with Annie Leibovitz. Everyone seems to love to hate her. Why is that?

Maybe it is because she does what most can only dream about?

keithwms · Jan 28, 2009

PVia said:
Have you ever seen Irving Penn's work? How about Karsh? Does Avedon ring a bell?

Geez...sometimes...

Please complete the sentence!

The difference I see between those cases and AL is that Karsh et al did something fortheir subjects. Very (too?) generally speaking, much of their work would be striking even to a viewer who couldn't identify the subject. E.g. Karsh's Churchill shots, I think it would be very striking to a young viewer today who didn't have a clue who he was and what role he played in WW2. It's iconic. On the other hand, where is AL to find a Churchill, nowadays....

AL seems (to some) to be benefiting by her subjects' fame and that's all. That is the source of most of the negative comments about her, I think.

Indeed Bill, I am sure that there is the jealousy aspect- she lives a life that is pure fantasy to many photographers. But having to work around all those egos, I don't envy that one bit. But I admit that I do envy her salary. I could probably run my research lab for a year with what she makes in a month.

wayne naughton · Jan 28, 2009

yeah, well maybe people of my vintage can get somewhat fixated on the woman because she DID produce THE images that became the icons of our generation. maybe she should of done the right thing and like james dean, janis joplin, jim morrison, hendrix et al, and given it away before she had the chance to sully her reputation.....grin

cartier-bresson had the courtesy/cynicism to give it away when he ran out of ideas

don't really understand the criticism that she's not worth thinking about because she's only a 'mere' celebrity photographer...wonder where eisenstadt fits in then......

equating leibovitz with microsoft and starbucks is, well, just disillusioning....and i suppose that's the nub of it....the proof is out there maybe one of the giants fron MY past really does have feet of clay....now that IS sad

AutumnJazz · Jan 28, 2009

Hassy? Mamiya? In the past few videos of her that I've seen, she's been using a Canon full-frame DSLR.

Leibovitz...I just find her work boring, generic, commercial stuff.

kodachrome64 · Jan 29, 2009

The pictures I've seen of her she was shooting Mamiya.

resummerfield · Jan 29, 2009

AutumnJazz said:
Hassy? Mamiya? In the past few videos of her that I've seen, she's been using a Canon full-frame DSLR.......

When she shot Conny Dufgran, (co-founder and chairman of Profoto) for Profoto's 40th Anniversary, she was using a Nikon D3. I saw the video in January.

wayne naughton · Jan 29, 2009

oh well, so far at least this thread has determined that A.L. HASN'T been filmed shooting Leica, Olympus or Holga. you guys are an absolute wealth of information, you are.....chuckle

AutumnJazz · Jan 29, 2009

resummerfield, I remember that.

I guess she uses everything...

Who isn't envious of her career and esteem? I know I am. Of her photography? Not so much.

keithwms · Jan 29, 2009

Who really cares what gear she shoots??? Anybody? Anyone?

Kent10D · Jan 29, 2009

wayne naughton said:
oh well, so far at least this thread has determined that A.L. HASN'T been filmed shooting Leica, Olympus or Holga. you guys are an absolute wealth of information, you are.....chuckle

She most certainly has been filmed shooting a Leica.

Head up to YouTube and check out the BBC "Imagine" Annie Liebowitz series (6 clips, I think). Lots of Leicas.

Hey ... I'm a gearhead ... I notice these things ...

wayne naughton · Jan 30, 2009

bloody hell.... any more?

Kent10D · Jan 30, 2009

wayne naughton said:
bloody hell.... any more?

You mean "any more clips" or "any more cameras"?

If you mean clips, I don't know. A search might turn some up.

Although I have been disappointed by some of the images she's turned out lately, possibly due to "extreme commercialism," I found that series of BBC clips to be very interesting and learned a lot about her past experience and work that earned her a good deal more respect from me.

I guess the lesson is to not judge a lifelong photographer's worth from a few flakey images.

robat · Jan 30, 2009

I liked her work in the past, but her recent stuff doesnt work for me at all. It started with the glued-together portrait of the Queen and culminated in the (in my opinion) disgusting current Lavazza Calendar.
But I admire her for her ability to live a photographers life to the fullest.

wayne naughton · Jan 31, 2009

Kent10D said:
You mean "any more clips" or "any more cameras"?

any more cameras....

keithwms · Jan 31, 2009

Leica mumble mumble hassie mumble mumble &@%ing digital mumble mumble celebrities mumble mumble John f%#ing Lennon's bare ass mumble mumble $$$ mumble mumble....

how disappointing

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