For my first piece of research into documentary photographers, I will be looking into the work of Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz was born on 2/10/1949 in Connecticut, after studying at Art school she went to night classes to learn photography. She started working at the Rolling Stone magazine and became their chief photographer, she then progressed and worked for Vanity Fair and Vogue. (https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/annie-leibovitz) Leibovitz was the first female photographer to have a solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. Leibovitz has had her work published in many books and ad campaigns, at the moment, she lives and works in New York.
She is very known for her excellent composition skills which are demonstrated in her celebrity solo and group photographs. Taken from Artnet- ‘Adept at capturing her subject’s personality and inner life, her images capture intimate or staged moments that reveal the playful and expressive aspects of her sitters.’ (http://www.artnet.com/artists/annie-leibovitz/) She has mastered the art of group portraiture, often compiling several different images together to create the perfect group shot.
Her work often alludes to historic, royal portraiture meaning it often has an air of regality and grace to it. The compositions are full but the strategic posing of each individual means that it never appears cluttered and it appears to flow well. I recently took part in a workshop at University based on group portraiture compositions and I took inspiration from the work of Leibovitz in my compositions. The images were taken on an iPhone as the purpose of them was solely for compositions:
Although I am a fan of Leibovitz’s celebrity and group portraiture work, I will be researching in depth her photobook ‘American Music’ as I have to produce a photobook for this unit and I am really drawn to American Music as a source of inspiration for my project and the presentation of my photobook.
This photobook is a compilation of documentary-style images which all feature musicians in America. Taken from the description on Amazon, it is described as- ‘The celebrated photographer offers a photographic chronicle of twentieth-century popular music in a collection of more than one hundred photographs of such musical icons as Ray Charles, the Grateful Dead, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, and many others, accompanied by short essays on the music and musicians’ (https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Music-Annie-Leibovitz/dp/03755050750). I am drawn to the simplicity of the concept of the book, it is simply a book full of Americans on the music scene- some are well known and some aren’t but they all share the common link of music.
I am drawn to the photograph above as it has a certain beauty surrounding it, it is composed carefully like Leibovitz’s famous celebrity group shots but it also has a more down to earth, gritty feel making it more relatable. She has shot several of her images from at eye level making the viewer feel as if they are there surrounded by the musicians. The fact that Leibovitz has used a large depth of field which adds an element of intrigue as, although your eye is drawn to the man in the middle, the rest of the composition is also in focus. This means that as you continue to look at the image you notice more elements of it and this allows the expressions of the audience to be seen as well to capture the vibe the audience was feeling about the performance.
The images throughout the book contrast each other, for example, this image above is contrasted to the group photo I just discussed. This photo feels more cinematic and romantic, it has a more intimate feel as it is featuring only one subject so her thoughtful expression can be clearly seen. The fact that this image is monochrome also adds to the poetic feel as it makes it seem like it is a film still. I want to take inspiration from this book when creating my own as I like the way Lebovitz has shown a whole sub-genre within one book and has captured a wide variety of people but shown their common link- music. I want to emulate this in my book, I would like to capture images of the Nuns together and take photos of their surroundings, I want to show the bond they share together. Like Lebovitz’s book, the Nuns in the convent are all different people from different places but they share their faith in God which has brought them all together and is the reason why they all share their life together. I want to take a mixture of photographs, I want to capture candid shots of them together, but also posed portraits and group shots and shots of their surroundings.
Ellie Thomas Reflective Journal 