Book review: Annie Leibovitz At Work
I read this book, Annie Leibovitz At Work.
Annie Leibovitz is a famous photographer and this book is a collection of stories about how she worked, where, with whom, and the experience of capturing pictures. Check her out on Google Image Search. She’s taken a lot of famous and moving pictures. It’s a different book from what I normally read and I’m very glad I read it. My boyfriend handed it to me a couple weeks ago, saying he really admired Annie’s work and that reading the book had helped him understand the artistic process of being a photographer.
My boyfriend has also told me that it is his passion to be a photographer. I found this somewhat ludicrous when he said it. At that moment, though, I had thoughts and impressions aside from the disdain and amusement at such a frivolous and obsessive pursuit - one that is expensive, difficult, and unless it is documenting something historical, strikes me as being as pointless as abstract art. (Or fanfiction.) Given that he’s struggling to make ends meet with a near-minimum wage job, hankering after a profession even less profitable than he has now seemed worthy of ridicule. But I said nothing disparaging. Because when he told me that, my other thoughts and impressions were that he was brave to admit to it, I was an utter hypocrite for even briefly entertaining the idea there was anything wrong with his dream, and anyway, art is one of the highest callings and deepest human impulses. Plus, I knew almost nothing about the subject.
When he handed me the book, I skimmed through it and asked him if I could borrow it. This was important to him and so I wanted to know more about it. He said yes, and was surprised that I wanted to. The next weekend, I read about twenty pages of it and that Monday I stuck it in my briefcase to read at lunch at work. It’s about 210 pages, but it’s a fast read. The print is large and about a third of the pages are taken up by photographs.
It explained a lot. I had suspected that photography is an art and this confirmed it. My own abysmal efforts with a camera had shown me it wasn’t as easy and pointing and clicking. I have a collection of pictures of my kids that are blurry, grainy, too dark or washed out. I gave up around 2003, tried again with a new camera at 2007, then made a third stab at it in 2012. As part of the divorce, I was advised by my attorney to get a camera to document any damages my ex caused. He didn’t cause any, but with this new camera, I found I was finally able to get usable pictures if I took lots and lots of them. For each of the pictures I post on the chickens, I’ve usually discarded at least twenty others. With a fast computer and better software, the process of winnowing down isn’t so labor intensive as to make me give up.
If you follow me on Tumblr (gamebird) or Facebook, then you’ve seen a few pictures of me mixed in recently. My boyfriend has started taking pictures of me. Those are his. He’s a damn sight better than I am at taking pictures! I’m learning a lot from him about how to get a picture that represents what was happening at that point in time that I wish to share with others. Reading Leibovitz’s book helped me understand the different elements that go into that act of visual communication.
And suddenly, there are pictures of me that I feel are worthy of sharing! They say things about me. They aren’t as dead and pointless and often technically poor as the pictures I had before. I’m … actually kind of proud to say ‘Hey, this is me!’ I am happy to see myself that way, in these pictures - instead of being disappointed and intimidated by the pictures I’ve had taken in the past, which were things I tolerated but hated.
Previously, I’d blamed the bad pictures on me - being ugly, incompetent, and blemished, as clumsy and awkward on film as I often feel in real life when critical attention turns on me. But now I’m seeing that the right photographer, the right technical knowledge and artistry, the right equipment and setting and knowing how to apply both, can bring something out that I’m proud to be associated with. It’s accurate. It’s not a picture of me under stress like the ones before - of me trying to fake it, of me putting on that social mask and not having it fit real well.
There was a bad grass fire the other night near my house. My boyfriend had stopped over to offer help with moving a bee hive and so he was there when it happened. He took some pictures of the fire and posted them on Facebook. My mother commented to me how good his pictures were - not just of me, but of things like the fire as well. I told him what she’d said. For her to go out of her way to make that kind of comment is important. I’ve told him he’s helped me feel better about myself and my appearance through his pictures. He seems very happy about that. I, in turn, am happy about him being happy.
I’ll give him back the Leibovitz book this weekend. I know I haven’t said much here about what her book contained, but … I think what’s important about her book and her work and photography in general is how it changes how you look at things. That’s what her book contained - an opportunity for me to shift perspective and understand the world and the people around me a little better. I think that’s a better description than any recounting of chapters and topics would be.