Re: Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit opens at Lincoln museum

[Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

When Annie was as RS, she had bookers looking for people to portray, as I did while on contract to TIME. Without them, there would have been no great covers for the magazine. Now she works for VF and others, and still has these folks booking her time. Those bookers are the main reason I got out of news photography,as they occasionally tried to make me be in places I considered dangerous or even life-threatening. When one is on contract for such a powerful publication, your life isn’t really your own and if somebody tells you to go to (for example) Viet Nam or Iraq and get embedded with US forces who might put you in harm’s way, you go.But when somebody calls at 9AM and says to go to a location where there is an armed force has taken over (for example) the Israeli Embassy armed with heavy weapons, you might want to think twice. I said no to that one as I was already shooting something else and as a tall guy (6’6”) I do not like being around people shooting at other people. That can’t happen now, as you ought to see the Israeli Embassy in DC - talk about armored!  

On Feb 10, 2014, at 8:53 AM, Randy Little wrote:

I don't dislike her work.  I just dislike her.   

Jan as you know also opportunities can be made to happen.   Annie wasn't in the right place at the right time by accident.  She was in the right place because have happenstance not luck.   People need to be aware that you have to go hunt the opportunity and take the time to be in the space.  Whether that space takes off is a whole other story.  

Randy S. Little
http://www.rslittle.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/

On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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

 

From: Randy Little

Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 10:53 AM

To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students

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)

 

 

Randy S. Little
http://www.rslittle.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 12:18 PM, Lea Murphy <lea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

She got them back as I recall.

 

Lea

your kids . my camera . we'll click
www.leamurphy.com

 

On Feb 7, 2014, at 11:06 AM, Randy Little wrote:

I guess anything to get out of debt. She had to sell off all here copyrights.

On Feb 7, 2014 11:51 AM, "John Palcewski" <palcewski@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Annie Leibovitz says a project to capture images of places and objects she reveres was a way to “save her soul.” That journey brought her to Springfield to photograph Abraham Lincoln’s items. An exhibit opens Saturday.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation
500 E. Madison St.
Suite 200
Springfield, IL 62701

Email: pevans@xxxxxxxxx
Phone: (217) 557-6250 or (800) 610-2094
Fax: (217) 558-6041

Read photographically illustrated article here:

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20140205/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/140209644

 

 

 

Art Faul

The Artist Formerly Known as Prints

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Art for Cars: art4carz.com

Stills That Move: http://www.artfaul.com

Greens: http://www.inkjetprince.com

Camera Works - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/battlefieldparks/front_qt.htm

ArtNet: http://www.artnet.com/artists/jan+w.-faul/

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Art Faul

The Artist Formerly Known as Prints

------

Art for Cars: art4carz.com

Stills That Move: http://www.artfaul.com

Greens: http://www.inkjetprince.com

Camera Works - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/battlefieldparks/front_qt.htm

ArtNet: http://www.artnet.com/artists/jan+w.-faul/

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