Apparently she blames it all on bad editing and inexperienced assistants. But it also could have been that Annie didn’t really have a handle on what she was doing and a PS had yet to be invented, getting rid of a light stand was a bit tougher than today. Also she was incredibly rushed as RS had ’scheduling’ issues, rental car problems; somebody rented a car in as I recall NYC and it sat fully rented with nobody driving it for more than a week or two while people took taxis because nobody knew where the car was.
Allegedly there were times when Annie (for example) decided that getting $20k for shooting Princess Di for VF was far superior to being in a studio with Mick Jagger for $10k at the same time and so ditched him. When a photog starts shooting for clients daily and now every other day, the machinery needed to make that happen grows exponentially. Even worse, by mid-week the photog arrives at his/her gig already frazzled having already had two jobs and is not fresh and ‘in the hunt'.
On Feb 9, 2014, at 11:16 PM, Gregory wrote:
Jan,
Good response.
Yes, we can not judge. All professional shooters have their bridges to
success.
I am simply lamenting the fact that until AL, professional shooters did not
include their equipment. She was given a difficult set of restraints, that
necessitated a mirror and therefore a reflection. I simply disallowed her
justification. In other words, she shot what she could have. But she found the
ability to succeed at justifying her images afterwards.
Jan, are you in the business of making excuses?
No.
Do the job and accept the reality of those who hire you. If they expect
more than what is allowable, then, isn’t it their problem, not your compromised
approach to the job?
All of this leads me to ask a very simple question. Where do you draw the
line? If I can not achieve what my client demands, do I lie, cheat, fake? Or do
I tell my client I can not achieve your requirements without compromise.
And, if that client says compromise, are you solely willing to commit to
the job even, for the sake of business?
Jan, where do you draw the line? Or, do you?
I have drawn that line, and it cost me. But, I feel better about my
photography as a result. Of course, this is an ideal, but one that I felt better
about than sucking up to my clients. Fuck them, you get what I will prevail.
Nothing else.
I thought AL failed at that integrity.
Gregory
Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit opens at Lincoln
museum
Before we get down to crucifying Annie, let me say that as a person she (to
me) really, really, really, really likes to get her way. But sure, she had
enviable opportunities and let us note that without ‘opportunities’ I’m sure
that both her career and mine (and those of others) would be largely different
and rather boring. Various contract employers got me into CLOSED A: US Senate
hearings on everything under the sun, B: House hearings on everything under the
sun including Nixon’s impeachment hearings, C: rock star green rooms, D:
Muhammad Ali’s training camp for an unrestricted day, E: coal mines, the
Nevada Test Site, the plane graveyard known as AMACG, etc. where cameras are
either strongly disliked or FORBIDDEN. I don’t know if I have the record (I
doubt it), but I spent 10 days shooting on the NTS with a ‘guide’ whose only
caveat was to not shoot ’those mountains as there is a secret military base
behind them’ (Area 51). Do I have to go on? And yes, I would have killed for
Annie’s ‘opportunities’ in the 1970’s as arranged by Rolling Stone.
‘Opportunities’ make a photographer’s time into more than meets the eye. I
made portraits of the Dalai Lama, Muhammad Ali, Bill Bradley, and many others
and if I hadn’t had ‘opportunities’ they would not have happened. I didn’t just
see them walking down the street and Annie didn’t just see Whoopi Goldberg on
the sidewalk and ask her to pose in a bathtub full of ‘milk’.
Don’t think for a minute that any of the pro-am shooters on this list would
turn down an opportunity no matter how nervous it made them. Have you ever been
almost alone in a studio with a big softbox on a ProFoto flash head and one of
your heroes sitting there conversing as though we are meeting in your home? No?
Too bad, as it is a really incredible experience.
The ‘real shooters’ on this list are very, very few. Shooting a 6-pack of
Tuborg is easy, but shooting Mick Jagger is not. First of all, you have to get
him in a studio where you have the right camera in your
hands.
Jan
On Feb 8, 2014, at 3:06 PM, Gregory wrote:
I never thought of AL being a real shooter, just one who had opportunity.
I especially laughed when she justified lighting equipment showing up in her
images. As Pinky once said, I intended to do that.”
Gregory
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit opens at Lincoln
museum
Sorry lea, I worked for that lady a few times when I was still an
assistant and I DON'T LIKE HER would be as polite as I can say it.
(and I am sure I could probably get many agree)
Art Faul
The Artist Formerly
Known as Prints
------
Camera Works - The
Washington Post
.
Art Faul
The Artist Formerly Known as Prints ------ Camera Works - The Washington Post
.
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