Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Yesterday I watched a documentary about photographer, Annie Leibovitz which was a close and intimate look at her life and work. The programme which was made by her sister, Barbara was aired on BBC 1 last June to celebrate her exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which ended it's run last month. Annie is a remarkable portrait photographer who takes images that capture a quality quite unlike any other. Some of her work are not very easy on the eye but there is no argument that they are extremely striking. My first recollection of Annie Leibovitz was her photograph of Demi Moore which appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair - nothing unusual about that as Demi was very hot at the time - except that she was naked and seven months pregnant. The image (which you can see above) caused a real stir and was on the cover of several newspapers and as former Vanity Fair editor, Tina Brown says, "That photo kicked off the discussion of motherhood and the discussion of the way we looked."

Annie kicked off her career in the early 70s at the newly launched Rolling Stone magazine where she carved out a niche for herself by taking intimate photographs of celebrities as well as documenting political rallies. Elton John, Rod Stewart, Ike and Tina Turner and The Rolling Stones were to just a few to mention. She adopted a method like approach to her work which entailed her living the life of her subjects. When The Rolling Stones went on tour she went with them and when they hung out backstage drinking she was right there and when they indulged drugs and alcohol she did so too. As drastic as this may be seem this practice allowed Annie to take some amazing and compelling pictures that would not have been possible if her subjects had not let their guard down. One of her most iconic images is the one of John Lennon and Yoko Ono (above) which was taken a mere five hours before Lennon was killed.

In 1983 she went over to Vanity Fair and with this move came a change from reportage images to much more glamorous and glitzy shots. Keeping in touch with the Vanity Fair remit, Annie's work now consisted of shoots with Hollywood stars such as Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Isabella Rossellini. So it was no surprise when she started taking images for US Vogue and she recently raised a lot of eyebrows with her cover shot of basketball star, LeBron James and model, Gisele which you can see above. Today there are not a lot of celebs who have not been shot by Annie and she is simply one of the best photographers of her time. Editors and peers all over the world are in complete admiration of her.

Here are a few of Annie's breathtaking shots:

Whoopi Goldberg - Vanity Fair

Demi Moore - Vanity Fair

Tom Ford, Kiera Knightly and Scarlett Johansson - Vanity Fair

Michelle Obama - Vogue

All pictures taken by Annie Leibovitz

Mr and Mrs O

What a fantastic week it has been and it is not even over yet. The last few days has made me feel inspired, hopeful and most of all proud.�Barack and Michelle Obama have become the first couple of The White House and exemplified that America have come a very long way since the end of slavery in 1865. With Barack we have �found a powerful orator who possess wonderful leadership skills and with Michelle we have someone who combines intelligence with charm and style. Since Obama's victory last October there has been a lot of talk about what Michelle would wear for the inauguration. People even went as far as to design mock ups of various outfits. She went for a gorgeous yellow gold sheath dress suit set off by cute Jimmy Choo brown heels. For the evening ball she chose a sumptuous white one shoulder gown designed by up and coming designer, Jason Wu. She looked like a graceful swan as she glided around the dance floor with hubby Barack. As awesome as the evening gown was it was the outfit that she wore during the day that stood out for me. Standing by your husband as he is sworn in as President of the most powerful country in the world is a momentous occasion of massive proportions and aside from your wedding day and birth of your children, there is no day bigger than that. So the outfit had to be sombre enough for the occasion but funky enough to reflect the Obama spark. By god she nailed it. That suit was perfect in every way - the cut, length and the colour made her look so vibrant and made her sparkle.�

The outfit was designed by Isabel Toledo, I don't know much about her (I am sure that will change) aside from the fact that she used to be Creative Director of Anne Klein. She is also married to artist, Ruben Toledo who created the wonderful illustrations in The Little Black Book of Style by Project Runway's, Nina Garcia - read my blog entry about it here. The Cuban born couple often collaborate on projects together and in 2005 they won the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for their work in fashion. So this week has been special in many ways - the election of America's first Black President and the unveiling of two brilliant couples.�

Black Love

Images of Black couples in the media has always been a turbulent one and more often than not it has often been negative. The relationship between Black men and women have historically been depicted as dysfunctional, unhealthy and sometime violent. When I was younger I used to wince when a Black couple came onto the big or small screen as I could tell that something horrible was going to happen. A lot of the depiction was down to racism and deep ignorance as well as an imbalance in the number of people of colour who are in production positions in film and TV. The 70s had a few gems in the shape of Lady Sings the Blues in which Diana Ross played jazz singer, Billie Holiday. The story demonstrated how Billie's life was marred by her drug addiction but what was poignant about the film were the loving scenes between Billie and her husband, Louis who was played by Billy Dee Williams. The Cosby Show carried the baton next with the tales of Cliff and Clair Huxtable and their five lively children. Cliff played by the legendary, Bill Cosby absolutely doted on Clair and was not ashamed to show it. Where The Cosby Show left off the films in the 90s and naughties took up and we saw films like Love Jones, Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball representing Black love in a realistic way. Just like any other the couples in these films had their ups and downs but they were treated in a respectful and positive way. Now we see Black love represented in the tallest order. The new President of the United States and his First Lady are a loving couple who have caught the imagination of the world. He the powerful orator who instill passion and pride in his countryman and she the tall elegant figure who is the backbone in the partnership. Together with their two daughters they will be the most glamorous family to enter the White House since JFK and his family swept everyone off their feet in 1960. So it was of great pleasure to me to see the image of Barack kissing his wife tenderly after he had won the presidential campaign plastered all over the media. Talk about full circle. Here's to you Barack and Michelle. Yes We Can!!!