Photo Of The Day

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Biography Of My Favorite Photographer : Annie Leibovitz

Born in 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Annie Leibovitz enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute intent on studying painting. It was not until she traveled to Japan with her mother the summer after her sophomore year that she discovered her interest in taking photographs. When she returned to San Francisco that fall, she began taking night classes in photography. Time spent on a kibbutz in Israel allowed her to hone her skills further.

 

In 1970 Leibovitz approached Jann Wenner, founding editor of Rolling Stone, which he’d recently launched and was operating out of San Francisco. Impressed with her portfolio, Wenner gave Leibovitz her first assignment: shoot John Lennon. Leibovitz’s black-and-white portrait of the shaggy-looking Beatle graced the cover of the January 21, 1971 issue. Two years later she was named Rolling Stone chief photographer.

When the magazine began printing in color in 1974, Leibovitz followed suit. “In school, I wasn’t taught anything about lighting, and I was only taught black-and-white,” she told ARTnews in 1992. “So I had to learn color myself.” Among her subjects from that period are Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Patti Smith. Leibovitz also served as the official photographer for the Rolling Stones’ 1975 world tour. While on the road with the band she produced her iconic black-and-white portraits of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, shirtless and gritty.

In 1980 Rolling Stone sent Leibovitz to photograph John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who had recently released their album “Double Fantasy.” For the portrait Leibovitz imagined that the two would pose together nude. Lennon disrobed, but Ono refused to take off her pants. Leibovitz “was kinda disappointed,” according to Rolling Stone, and so she told Ono to leave her clothes on. “We took one Polaroid,” said Leibovitz, “and the three of us knew it was profound right away.” The resulting portrait shows Lennon nude and curled around a fully clothed Ono. Several hours later, Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment. The photograph ran on the cover of the Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue. In 2005 the American Society of Magazine Editors named it the best magazine cover from the past 40 years.

Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, the photographer’s first book, was published in 1983. The same year Leibovitz joined Vanity Fair and was made the magazine’s first contributing photographer. At Vanity Fair she became known for her wildly lit, staged, and provocative portraits of celebrities. Most famous among them are Whoopi Goldberg submerged in a bath of milk and Demi Moore naked and holding her pregnant belly. (The cover showing Moore — which then-editor Tina Brown initially balked at running — was named second best cover from the past 40 years.) Since then Leibovitz has photographed celebrities ranging from Brad Pitt to Mikhail Baryshnikov. She’s shot Ellen DeGeneres, the George W. Bush cabinet, Michael Moore, Madeleine Albright, and Bill Clinton. She’s shot Scarlett Johannson and Keira Knightley nude, with Tom Ford in a suit; Nicole Kidman in ball gown and spotlights; and, recently, the world’s long-awaited first glimpse of Suri Cruise, along with parents Tom and Katie. Her portraits have appeared in Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker, and in ad campaigns for American Express, the Gap, and the Milk Board.

how cute all beings a real disney

Among other honors, Leibovitz has been made a Commandeur des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and has been designated a living legend by the Library of Congress. Her first museum show, Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990, took place in 1991 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and toured internationally for six years. At the time she was only the second living portraitist — and the only woman — to be featured in an exhibition by the institution.

Leibovitz met Susan Sontag in 1989 while photographing the writer for her book AIDS and its Metaphors. “I remember going out to dinner with her and just sweating through my clothes because I thought I couldn’t talk to her,” Leibovitz said in an interview with The New York Times late last year. Sontag told her, “You’re good, but you could be better.” Though the two kept separate apartments, their relationship lasted until Sontag’s death in late 2004.

Sontag’s influence on Leibovitz was profound. In 1993 Leibovitz traveled to Sarajevo during the war in the Balkans, a trip that she admits she would not have taken without Sontag’s input. Among her work from that trip is Sarajevo, Fallen Bicycle of Teenage Boy Just Killed by a Sniper, a black-and-white photo of a bicycle collapsed on blood-smeared pavement. Sontag, who wrote the accompanying essay, also first conceived of Leibovitz’s book Women (1999). The book includes images of famous people along with those not well known. Celebrities like Susan Sarandon and Diane Sawyer share space with miners, soldiers in basic training, and Las Vegas showgirls in and out of costume.

 Leibovitz’s most recent book, A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005, includes her trademark celebrity portraits. But it also features personal photographs from Leibovitz’s life: her parents, siblings, children, nieces and nephews, and Sontag. Leibovitz, who has called the collection “a memoir in photographs,” was spurred to assemble it by the deaths of Sontag and her father, only weeks apart. The book even includes photos of Leibovitz herself, like the one that shows her nude and eight months pregnant, à la Demi Moore. That picture was taken in 2001, shortly before Leibovitz gave birth to daughter Sarah. Daughters Susan and Samuelle, named in honor of Susan and Leibovitz’s father, were born to a surrogate in 2005.

Leibovitz composed these personal photographs with materials that she used when she was first starting out in the ’70s: a 35-millimeter camera, black-and-white Tri X film. “I don’t have two lives,” she writes in the book’s introduction. “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Still, she told the Times, this book is the “most intimate, it tells the best story, and I care about it.”

courtesy: http://www.pbs.org and mr. google :D

Quotes Of The Day

"It is not what I see outside that makes my images, it is what I feel on the inside that comes out"

- Carolyn M D'Alessandro

My Cameras

Bonjour! Akhirnya bisa update lagi setelah sebulan lamanya vakum hehe :p

Kali ini saya akan share tentang pengalaman pertama saya mengenal kamera

Kebetulan, mama dan papa saya bukanlah seorang yang memiliki hobi di bidang fotografi. Mereka lebih senang untuk pergi ke studio foto daripada berfoto dengan kamera sendiri atau hanya meminjam dari teman/saudara. Atau memilih jasa tukang foto polaroid bila kami sedang rekreasi ke suatu tempat hiburan. Beranjak besar, saya pun sudah makin fotogenic untuk foto di depan kamera. Dengan gaya andalan rambut dikucir keatas dan telunjuk di pipi kanan tidak lupa gelang warna warni yang dibeli di pasar baru, saya sudah siap bergaya di depan fotografer. Namun semakin besar, rasa ingin tahu saya makin bertambah besar pula. Ketika kelas 4 SD, papa membeli sebuah kamera roll instan. Ingin sekali untuk menyentuh kamera itu, namun papa sering melarang karena takut rusak dan (pada saat itu) harganya yang tidak murah. Tapi, suatu hari saya akhirnya diizinkan juga untuk meminjam kamera tersebut untuk foto-foto bersama teman-teman karena hari itu kami akan pawai marching band. And the result was not too bad, walaupun ada beberapa foto yang terbakar tapi saya puas dan senang bisa mencicipi kamera tersebut :D. Dan sampai sekarang, kamera itu masih saya simpan, inilah penampakannya...

lensnya udah ga bisa ditutup dan berjamur :(

fujifilm axion and the pocket

Setelah kamera ini lama ga digunakan dan akhirnya wafat sudah, papa membeli kamera lagi pada tahun 2000 sekian. Tentunya yang lebih modern dan stylish haha tuntutan abad millenium :p. Seperti biasa, saya dilarang keras meminjam tanpa dampingan papa. Sifat slebor saya lah yang menyebabkan papa ga bisa percaya setiap saya memegang benda yang tidak murah, karena (saat itu) memegang piring pun selalu lepas dari genggaman dan saya sering terjatuh secara mendadak walaupun ketika sedang jalan lambat. Saya tidak memiliki daya keseimbangan yang bagus, mungkin karena badan saya yang cukup montok saat itu :p. Lalu akhirnya karena sangat penasaran, akhirnya saya meminjamnya diam-diam hihi dan mulai detik itu, camera it's my 2nd boyfie :D

lovely konica beetwen my stuff

Kamera ini sangat-sangat berjasa buat saya, karena dialah pelampiasan ketika saya bad-mood, kesepian, sedih, saya tinggal ambil kamera ini lalu pergi mencari objek atau narsis sendiri hehe (that's the real function, you know! :p). Hobi fotografi saya mulai berkembang dan tersalurkan, saat itu saya masih duduk di  bangku SMP kelas 1. Dan saat itu pula saya mulai mengenal editing, melalui program adobe photoshop 7 yang telah tersedia di komputer. Ya, memang editannya pun sungguh masih sangat cupu jauh dan terkesan alay haha, oke dengan bangga saya akan perlihatkan sisa-sisa ke-cupu-an saya saat itu

first photo editing! ceritanya a la AADC -_-

better lah

Dan kamera ini pula yang memberanikan saya bergabung dengan jepret! (ekskul fotografi di SMAN 3), sempet sirik liat yang lain udah megang DSLR sedangkan saya masih setia bersama si semi DSLR ini. Dan bakat pun mulai terasah hingga sampailah pada saatnya my santa konica ini harus pergi ke hadirat Yang Maha Kuasa :'(. Rasanya sedih banget, setelah 5 tahun bersama dan bisa dianggap kamera pertama saya.

terimakasih telah memberikan kepuasan walaupun hanya dengan 4 mega pixel mu saja :D

Akhirnya kamera analog kembali berjaya pada tahun 2007an. Mungkin tepatnya kamera plastik, yap lomo menjadi trend remaja saat itu. Dengan bodi dan warna yang unik serta lensanya yang bermacam-macam, kembali lagi kita harus memakai film sebagai media pendukungnya. Hasrat ingin membelinya, namun malah di belikan haha lucky me :p. Lomo holga 135 bc berwarna hitam menjadi sebuah kado yang indah saat itu namun lagi-lagi ia tidak hidup bertahan lama seperti hubungan saya dengan si pemberinya *ehm* yang harus berpisah. Holga saya terjatuh dan tenggelam dalam air laut saat tur budaya menuju Anyer. Sempat menangis, tapi ya sudah lah dan si holga pun telah menjadi bangkai. Begitupun cintaku padanya *nyampah*

ya seperti inilah tampak si Holga

Ketika suasana haru masih menyelimuti, karena harus kehilangan my Santa Konica & si Holga akhirnya saya berjalan-jalan menyusuri jalan ABC. Sepanjang jalan ABC memang dipenuhi oleh toko-toko elektronik seperti mesin cuci, tv flat, kulkas dsb. Tapi jangan abaikan kios-kios yang berjajar di depan toko elektronik tersebut. Mereka memiliki gudang harta karun yang sangat banyak! dari mulai kacamata vintage, jam tangan bekas dan tentunya kamera-kamera jadul pun terjaja cantik di etalase kecil mereka. Ketika terdiam di satu elase dan melihat satu kamera merk lokal berdiri disana, saya tertarik dan mulai bernegosiasi. Dan akhirnya, dengan 50 ribu saja teman-teman! saya sudah bisa membawa pulang my Fantastica Fujica! Yeah!

fallin in love in first sight <3

Setelah dicoba walaupun agak-agak bocor dikit, no problem karena selama masih bisa ditanggulangi ini kamera murah meriah yang (agak) bisa menyenangkan hati setelah kehilangan beberapa kamera tetapi tidak menyenangkan untuk dompet karena harus mengeluarkan kocek yang lumayan untuk beli roll dan scan-roll. Ini dia hasil dari si Fantastica Fujica

i love leaks effect!

hello honey!

semoga umurmu panjang, nak

DSLR semakin merajalela, dan saya pun semakin sirik dengan mereka yang menenteng DSLR layaknya statement necklace hanya untuk gaya-gayaan bukan karena butuh ataupun hobi. Dengan kekuatan Bulan Tuhan dan usaha yang saya lakukan *cie* mulai dari berdagang dan membuka lapak disana-sini akhirnya ALHAMDULILLAH uangnya terkumpul!! *terimakasih banyak ya Allah dan semua agan & sis yang telah membeli barang jualan saya ;)*. Walaupun uangnya baru sempat untuk membeli Nikon D60 tapi jika saya memaksimalkan si mungil ini, Insya Allah ia akan menghasilkan uang kembali untuk saya . AMIN

awet-awet ya sama saya, dan di mohon kerjasamanya my Bodhi!

"My Bodhi, doakan saya supaya bisa membeli teman-teman mu si D1x ,D700, dan bangsawan lainnya. Doakan juga supaya bisa membeli aneka ragam accesoriesmu agar kamu tambah ganteng dan gagah ya. Baik-baik disini, jangan berulah ok? Bodhi you're my bestfriend :D"