anna lou who?

A few nights ago I watched an amazing documentary on photography legend Anna-Lou "Annie" Liebovitz. She has always been my favourite portrait photographer, but the documentary revealed that her life was just as fascinating as the subjects she photographed. In her early days as photographer for the newly launched Rolling Stone magazine, Annie spent life on the road, often travelling with the Rolling Stones. It was as if she became a phantom member of the band, hanging out in their hotel rooms, drinking alongside the guys and doing mounds of drugs that littered their rooms.  By immersing herself into their world, Annie got some of the best behind the scenes candid portraits of the rock world that nobody had seen before.  The image at the top, of a naked John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono is legendary. There is an innocence and intimacy captured in this tender moment. What I didn't know, and found so deeply and profoundly moving, is that hours after this photo was taken, John Lennon was shot and killed. How moving that Yoko Ono has her last day on earth with her love chronicled in such a timeless photograph. 

As Annie's career progressed, she got snapped up by Vanity Fair magazine, shooting every A-lister in splashy creative high concept portraits. She always wanted to reveal a little about the person behind the image. 

I remember when Annie's photo of a naked and pregnant Demi Moore graced the cover of Vanity Fair, it sparked nation wide controversy - people thought it objectified the sacredness of pregnancy. How the times have changed. Now pregnant women everywhere are getting photos of their bare bellies taken to capture this beautiful moment of their lives. Liebovitz herself had her first baby at 51 and then at 55, a surrogate other gave birth to her twins. Everything about this woman is endlessly fascinating.  If you have a chance to catch her documentary life through a lens, do so, and you'll see the story behind the scenes of some of the most beautifully captured images.