It was my priviledge to hear and see photographer Annie Leibowitz speak at Art Center College last Thursday. A very simple person with blonde flowing hair and no makeup, it was obvious that she'd rather share her images than speak in front of an audience. After being introduced by her close colleague, photographer, Matthew Rolston, she chose to sit on the edge of the stage prefering to blend in with the black painted floor rather than on the cushy lounge chair prepared for her.
She spoke about her new book Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990–2005 which visually chronicles her professional, but more importantly, a good portion of her personal life. She spoke about the artistic side of her work as well as about the ease of photographing the people we know best often because they are most comfortable with us, in her case, her mother. She shared photgraphs of her most heart-wrenching year during which her longtime partner write/journalist Susan Sontag and Annie's own father pass away within 6 weeks of each other. Annie documents their last days and their bodies after death. In this bitter sweet time, her twins were born.
No booksigning at the end, but felt the slight wind only a few feet away as Annie was quickly wisked away to her private car.
ps. thanks sabine for the heads up!
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