Within ten years, Leibovitz’s photos graced the cover of 142 issues of Rolling Stone. Some of her most famous Rolling Stone photos include an eight-page spread of photos from President Richard Nixon’s resignation, Mick Jagger’s international tour, and a photo of a naked John Lennon curled around his fully clothed wife, Yoko Ono, which was taken just five hours prior to Lennon’s death in 1980. Leibovitz graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1971, and by 1973 she was Rolling Stone’s chief photographer.ĭuring her time at Rolling Stone, Leibovitz created a striking number of iconic photographs and established herself both as the nation’s foremost rock music photographer and as an astute documentarian of the social landscape.

One of her photos was selected for the cover of a special issue on campus riots and protests, and she was offered a job as a staff photographer. In 1970, while still a student, Leibovitz submitted photographs of anti-war rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley to Rolling Stone. During her second year, she signed up for a night class in photography, and shortly thereafter changed her major, finding photography better suited to her personality because of its speed and realism.

In 1967, Leibovitz enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute with the intent to study painting. Leibovitz has fond memories of returning to Waterbury throughout her childhood to visit her grandparents. It was during this time that Leibovitz began to view the world through a lens, first through the window of the car which she came to understand as a frame, and later through the photographic lens as she began to document their travels. Due to her father’s military career, the family moved often. Her mother studied modern dance with Martha Graham and was a dance instructor while her father worked in a rubber mill until he joined the Air Force during World War II. Leibovitz is widely regarded as the major chronicler of twentieth-century culture.Īnna-Lou Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Conn., on October 2, 1949, the third of six children born to Marilyn and Sam Leibovitz. She has photographed a wide array of subjects ranging from presidents and queens to rock stars, athletes and ordinary people. Annie Leibovitz’s large and distinguished body of work encompasses some of the most well-known portraits of our time.

Dancers by Annie Leibovitz