Dominique De Souza 10/10/14 Favorite Photo

Anna-Lou “Annie” Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. She was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on October 2, 1949 to Marilyn Edith, a modern dance instructor of Estonian Jewish heritage, and Samuel Leibovitz, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Because of her father’s assignments, Annie Leibovitz was constantly moving. Her first photographs were taken during the Vietnam War when her family was stationed in the Philippines. However, her love for photography began when she was enrolled at the San Francisco Art institute in 1967.

In 1970, Leibovitz moved to the United States to pursue her photography career, working with Rolling Stone magazine.  In 1973, she became the chief photographer for that company; she continued to work there for ten years. Her photographs of celebrities helped form the Rolling Stone image.

Personally, I believe Annie Leibovitz’s most iconic photographs are from her Disney Dream Portrait series. In 2007, she created a series of advertisement photographs featuring celebrities in different Disney fairy tale scenes to promote Disney Parks’ “Year of a Million Dreams.”  These photographs include Scarlet Johansson in a blue dress (invoking Cinderella) and Julianne Moore and Michael Phelps as mermaids (invoking The Little Mermaid). However, before that, Annie Leibovitz photographed Drew Barrymore with a lion (invoking Beauty and the Beast) for a 2005 Vogue cover shoot. These fairytale-like images most likely set her Disney Dream Portraits in motion.

My personal favorite from the Beauty and the Beast photo shoot is the image that was displayed on Vogue’s front cover. This image debuted in Vogue; depicting a beautiful Barrymore seated beside a gentle beast—in this case, a lion. When I look at this image, one word comes to mind: enchanting. Leibovitz does an amazing job of creating a fairy tale scene. Barrymore’s face is soft and courageous. She boldly declares that she is unfazed by the ferocious animal beside her. The lion sits close to her side, showing no intention of leaving. He is submissive to her, guarding her, looking out for anyone that might seek to harm her. The softness and texture of Barrymore’s dress is mimicked throughout the photograph. It gives the image a graceful effect. Body language also plays a part in achieving this. The way Drew Barrymore tilts her shoulder and maintains an enticing gaze with the viewer shows a subtle sense of protectiveness towards the lion. Leibovitz’s method of capturing an intimate scene between two unlikely lovers and indeed redesigning an entire fairytale through the use of photography is beyond amazing.