Annie Leibovitz: Reiter

Often when I go to concerts and see a performer it is hard for me to digest that they are actually right in front of me and a real, live person. Oddly enough I felt this when Annie Leibovitz came on stage, partly because of the crowd's obvious awe for her, but also because she has met so many incredibly famous and intelligent people. I expected most of her presentation to go over the fascinating parts of her job, the crazy encounters she has had, and all the people she has met. However, much of what she shared while speaking was personal and casual. It became clear very fast that she is a photographer because she has an intense passion for it, not because of the celebrities or the money. She focused a little bit on all the landscape work that she has done which I thought was very interesting because mainly when people think of Annie Leibovitz they immediately think of portraits. It was curios to see this other side of her work.
I also learned that she has a sense of humor that must be one of the things that really draws her subjects towards her that she photographs. When telling the story about Niagara Falls she really gave the public some insight into her personal life but also displayed her humor when she showed the view (or lack there of) from her window. I think the most important thing that I took away from her speech was that she said it is important to really stick with something and work on a project for a while. I thought this was interesting because another photographer I saw this semester had the same message. I think that part of photography is really learning everything about something so that you can really display a subject in a still photo. I think knowing everything about something is also extremely interesting and worthwhile. Overall, I really enjoyed Annie Leibovitz's speech for thinking outside of the box and not focusing on the stereotypical topics of an achieved photographer, and also displaying her humbleness.