At the moment I'm totally inspired by photographer Annie Leibovitz. This has been started by an exhibition on in Sydney at the moment entitled 'Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990-2005' which combines the photos of her private and family life with the portraiture she's so famous for. The idea that the two contrast so heavily yet can be combined seems quite interesting to me, purely because it creates such a visually obvious juxtaposition between the two, a stark contrast from glitz and glamour of celebrities to her subtle and banal personal life. The exhibition has an underlying feeling of mortality, also an interesting idea because of the capacity we believe photography to have- to immortalize a moment in time. And now what I really want is the accompanying book to the exhibition...
Over her career Leibovitz has photographed for both Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines, toured with The Rolling Stones on their 'Tour of the Americas '75', and has since been frequently commissioned by celebrities. Here is some of her stunning photography:
Brad Pitt
John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Queen Elizabeth II
Keith Haring
Anyway, all this has inspired me to try some portraiture! Any volunteers for models?
xx
P.S. The next step for me is to look up Susan Sontag, a beautiful writer and essayist who was romantically involved with Leibovitz. I bet her writing was amazing...
Also, here's a good
article on this...
