A Closer Look At Annie Leibovitz

In 1970, within a year of its founding, Annie Leibovitz - born on this day in 1949 - came to work for Rolling Stone magazine; by 1973 she was named its chief photographer, at the age of 24.

In her professional capacity, Leibovitz was responsible for influencing the look of the rock industry bible, which under her tenure trended towards larger and brighter pictures, often incorporating elements of whimsy - especially on its cover.

Known for her collaborative ability - which has been responsible for many unique portraits - since 1983, she's also done much work for Vanity Fair, albeit in a more straightforward style.

In 2007 she became the first American photographer to create a portrait of England's Queen Elizabeth II. While the photos are exemplary, filmmakers producing a documentary entitled A Year with the Queen tried to pull a BS reality-TV trick and re-edit the footage to turn the Queen into a diva and Leibovitz into an idiot. Fortunately, the stunt blew up in their faces; unfortunately, the Queen no longer has it in her discretion to send those responsible for sedition to the Tower of London.

More recently Leibovitz's high-living ways have brought her to a pretty pass with regards to her home and worst of all, her most precious resource - her photo archive; the more sensitive pundits among us (myself most humbly included) have put this down to the recent death of Leibovitz's long-term lover, Susan Sontag. Here's hoping the coming years find this issue sorted out...
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