Annie Leibovitz
2007 Icon

Photographer

b. October 2, 1949

"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people." 
    
A master chronicler of popular culture for over 25 years, Annie Leibovitz came to international acclaim as the chief photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine. Today she is a highly sought after portrait photographer.

Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut.  The daughter of an Air Force Lieutenant, she moved frequently as a child.  Leibovitz showed early interests in music and painting before discovering photography in college.

In 1970, Leibovitz began her first assignment with Rolling Stone Magazine shortly before graduating college. In addition to Rolling Stone, Leibovitz's work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Life Magazine, TIME Magazine, Esquire, Vogue and Vanity Fair. In 1991, she became the first woman exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Leibovitz's work is characterized by its unconventional and provocative nature. Her poignant photographs reveal a  level of intimacy unseen in conventional portraits. Leibovitz's most notable photograph of John Lennon lying naked with Yoko Ono, demonstrates this unique style. She has photographed more celebrities than any other photographer.

In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Leibovitz first recognized her 15-year romantic relationship with writer and critic Susan Sontag. Though the couple never lived together, their apartments were in view of each other. Intimate photos of Sontag, including those taken during her battle with cancer, are revealed in "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005."

In 2001, at the age of 52, Leibovitz gave birth to her first child, Sarah Leibovitz. Her twins, Susan (named after Sontag) and Samuel, were born to a surrogate mother in 2005. She and her children live in New York.