Category Archives: Photography

Annie Leibovitz’s work as a photographer is never done.

That’s why she and the curatorial team at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art struggled to come up with the title of her exhibit there, she said.

“It’s never over; it’s just never ending,” Leibovitz said during a media preview Sept. 14.

“Annie Leibovitz At Work” is the artist’s first major museum exhibition in a decade. It opened to the public Sept. 16 and will continue through Jan. 29, 2024, then go on to museum stops in Charlotte, N.C.; Sacramento, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Wichita, Kan.

The work is displayed on homasote panels, a fiber wall board made of recycled paper, with push pins to hold up photographs that span the entirety of Leibovitz’ career, from those early years with Rolling Stone and her time at Vanity Fair and Vogue to her most recent commissions and lesser known works.

The paper and pushpin model resembles the way the well-known photographer hangs work in her studio, transporting viewers temporarily to her typical working space. There they will see familiar faces: Presidents Obama and Biden, LeBron James, Lizzo, Rhianna, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and many more.

In the final room of the exhibit are four high-tech digital display screens — 10 feet by 12 feet each — that feature 20 minute slideshows of Leibovitz’s work. Having that as an easy way to incorporate new work means Leibovitz is truly not finished, even as the exhibit receives its initial visitors.

“I plan to continue to shoot and add more to these screens as we go along,” she said.

Alejo Benedetti, acting curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges, said even if not every museumgoer immediately recognizes Leibovitz by name, they’re sure to recognize her photos.

“They’re emblazoned in our minds,” he said, such as the portrait of John Lennon naked, curled up next to Yoko Ono and kissing her cheek that was taken hours before his death. The iconic image of pregnant Demi Moore. The Rolling Stones on tour. “Her work is well known. It’s the highest compliment for an artist.”

Leibovitz initially arrived in Northwest Arkansas to take Alice Walton’s portrait, which she described as a “hoot,” saying Walton jumped off her boat into water when it was freezing cold and that she could hardly keep up with her.

At some point during the visit, Walton broached the idea of her having an exhibit at Crystal Bridges. The museum had none of Leibovitz’ work in its collection, and they would leave the prompt open to whatever she wanted to photograph.

Leibovitz told Walton: “I would love it if you would let me do some more work,” she recalls, telling her “there are people I’d like to photograph that I don’t always get the chance to.” Walton and the Crystal Bridges team agreed to help her with access, and so they were off on the exhibition project.

“One of the coolest things a museum can do is really trust an artist,” Benedetti said. “The product that you see in the end is Annie’s vision, no doubt about that. She has been deeply engaged in every aspect.”

As droves of schoolchildren pass by, Leibovitz seems charmed by the educational aspect of this museum. She says she wanted the show to be for young photographers or really anyone interested in photography.

“I set up the first two rooms as ‘aha!’ moments for me in my 54 years of work that taught me about photography along the way,” Leibovitz said. “I wanted a young person to see that, see what I went through, and explain that a little bit and then get to the last works.”

Annie Leibovitz started her artistic journey at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she initially studied painting but, she says, she was not very good at it. A night class in photography showed her a medium that was much more immediate, and it stuck.

Her earliest works were shot with a 35 mm small camera, which was new at the time, and the chosen style to emulate was photographer and documentarian Robert Frank’s.

“We were taught to look through the camera and use the camera as the frame,” Leibovitz said. The resulting photos of that time were rectangular, then square and finally a fatter square, the Haaselblad. Standing in the exhibition, she points to a photo of a beach scene as one influential to her early interest. She took it on a class outing, shot the image through a car window and, while it wasn’t by her estimation that good, “it made me think of the dynamics of photography and what it could do.”

Leibovitz’s practice gained momentum when she took her photographs to the art director at Rolling Stone Magazine. Just 20 or 21 years old, she was in her third year of school at the time and would end up graduating early, but they hired her.

“Visuals were not the No. 1 interest … but I was allowed to cohort with people like Hunter Thompson and go on these stories with them,” Leibovitz said. At Rolling Stone, she was credited for her work and internalized that it was important. “They made you feel, (I) learned young, that what you did mattered. That means so much for young people.”

Leibovitz’s biggest break while working for the magazine was during the uncovering of the Watergate scandal. She and Thompson were paired together to create an 11 page feature on the big news, but Thompson never showed. He was engrossed, watching it unfold on TV, so Rolling Stone ran a photo spread for the first time, 11 pages of Leibovitz’s pictures.

In 1975, Leibovitz became tour photographer for the Rolling Stones.

“I sort of fell victim to the whole circus, and it was a lesson for a young photographer,” Leibovitz said. “Up until that time, I thought I had it figured out. I thought you become one with your subject, you get involved, you’re there and you do what they do.”

While she doesn’t regret that period, Leibovitz said she was lost in the lifestyle and didn’t come completely back for years. From that time on, she said, she never got that close to a subject again, always ensuring some distance.

In 1980, Leibovitz did a series of portrait sessions of poets for Life Magazine. In doing so, she read their works, thought deeply about them and tried to incorporate the emotional aspect of poetry into the portraits. That kind of conceptual work is at play in her portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, she said.

Leibovitz left Rolling Stone and went to work for Vanity Fair Magazine because she wanted to have a broader scope of subjects, which turned out to be an integral shift in her career. She began to shoot images in a place that had significance for the sitter.

Later on, with a series of women’s portraits, Leibovitz experimented with the use of her photos on screens — a new way to see her work. That choreography of images, Benedetti says, is something that a book or a magazine can’t quite do in the same way because it incorporates movement into it.

These immersive dips into the digital realm add texture to the exhibition, he says. They’ll also help make clear the connections of Leibovitz’s early works and her more recent ones.

“The newer work? I found the older work sort of correlated with it,” Leibovitz says, noting an older portrait of Salman Rushdie against a new one and a series of photographs of those who supported him, which she took a few years ago while he was in hiding. “So you’ll see, in the screens, the relationships, which are really quite interesting.”

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FAQ

‘Annie Leibovitz At Work’

WHEN — Through Jan. 29, 2024; hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday & Wednesday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville

COST — $12

INFO — 657-2335 or crystalbridges.org

    Annie Leibovitzs career began in the 70s, when she was Rolling Stones chief photographer and was caught up in the volatile cultural upheavals of the time. She worked for Vanity Fair and Vogue in the 80s, where she expanded her repertoire of subjects and became established as the portraitist of well-known people. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
  

    This famous portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was inspired by the image of them kissing on the cover of Double Fantasy, their final album together. Leibovitz had planned for both of them to be unclothed, but Ono changed her mind at the last minute. Annie took the Polaroid and let the couple look at it, to which Lennon said: “Thats our relationship; thats really us.” Several hours later, Lennon died. Leibovitz said photographs have a certain meaning attached when you take them, and that meaning can suddenly change, as it did in this case, based on the circumstances. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
  

    The exhibit “Annie Leibovitz at Work” has new and rarely seen recent photographs, as well as images made over the course of Leibovitzs legendary career of more than five decades. Included are portraits of Cindy Sherman, Lizzo, LeBron James, Presidents Obama and Biden, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rihanna, Dolly Parton, Shonda Rhimes, Tom Ford and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, among many others. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
  

    Images of the show are seen in prints on paper and on high-tech digital display screens, such as this portrait of Alice Walton. Leibovitz initially came to the area to photograph Walton and received an invitation to make an exhibition for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
  

    On The Cover: Annie Leibovitz looks on as visitors view her work Sept. 14 during a guided media preview at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
  

Above: watch our video guide

You can shoot anything in black and white, but the skill lies in ‘seeing’ your subjects in shades of grey rather than being distracted by colour, and it’s much harder than it seems.

Colours are, of course, converted into shades of grey, which means that you don’t see the contrasts in black and white that colours provide. Instead, black-and-white photography is much more dependent on lighting, contrast, shapes and textures. This also makes it easier to produce powerful, graphic compositions.

But while it’s perfectly possible to just go out and start shooting black and white photography, you can learn and understand this medium a lot quicker in a controlled situation with a simple still life setup, where you can arrange your subject, the lighting and the composition bit by bit.

Read more: The best camera for black and white photography

Our setup was created on a kitchen island, with a large sheet of material taped to a wall cabinet and draped over the island. Our subject is a little vase of narcissi and the lighting is provided by natural window light to the right and a Rotolight Neo LED panel to the left, though you could also use a reflector instead. This little setup took no more than half an hour to fix up, followed by about an hour of shooting and half an hour of editing in Lightroom to achieve the finished image.

The great thing about a still life setup like this is that you can get everything just how you want it while being able to see the effect live. Just moving the light a couple of inches or a few degrees can make a huge difference. If you use loosely hung material like we did, you can also spend time adjusting the creases and the folds to pick up the light and help create textures and contrast.

The real secret, though, is to use your Canon’s Monochrome Picture Style to see your subject in black and white on screen as you shoot. Even if you edit a Raw version later, this black-and-white preview is invaluable in helping you see the effect of the lighting and the composition. You will see exactly what works and what doesn’t work when shooting in monochrome.

1. Mono picture style

Visualizing a full-color world in black and white is not easy, even for experienced photographers. This is where your Picture Styles come in. With the Monochrome Picture Style, you can see your scene in B&W using the Live View display or EVF.

2. Shoot RAW and JPEG

Canon’s Picture Styles are applied to in-camera JPEG images. Sometimes these will be good enough quality on their own, but it’s often best to have the Raw image for more advanced editing – so set your camera to capture both Raw+JPEG files.

3. Use Live View to compose

You can use your Canon camera’s Info button to cycle through various display modes, and the histogram display, for example. Cycle through these modes until they’re all switched off so they don’t distract you when you’re composing on screen.

4. Choose a preset or profile

Capturing the image is only half the job – now you need your digital darkroom! This is Lightroom Classic, but the same tools are available in other photo editors. As a starting point, try out the different black and white presets or profiles on offer, as they can get you closer to the right ‘look’.

5. Boost the contrast

Almost all classic black and white imagery was enhanced with ‘dodging and burning’ in the darkroom, making different areas of the picture lighter or darker to improve the contrast and composition. In Lightroom you can use the Adjustment Brush to ‘burn in’ areas that are too light, for example.

6. Tone your mono photos

A straight black-and-white shot can look amazing, but it can look even better with a subtle toning effect. Forget about sepia toning because it’s been done to death; instead, try split toning (this is Lightroom’s Colour Grading panel) to give shadows a blue tinge and highlights a warmer tone.

PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine is the world’s only monthly newsstand title that’s 100% devoted to Canon, so you can be sure the magazine is completely relevant to your system. Every issue comes with downloadable video tutorials too.

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These are the best cameras for portraits and the best portrait photography tips. You might also like the best photo editing software and the best photo-editing laptops.

The 2023 Nature TTL Photographer of the Year competition has announced its victors, with a poignant image capturing the top spot. This year, the contest attracted over 8,000 entries from nature photographers worldwide, all vying for the coveted £1,500 cash prize.

Thomas Vijayan, hailing from Canada, emerged as the overall winner with his captivating photograph titled ‘Austfonna Ice Cap.’ This mesmerizing image showcases a waterfall formed as a result of rapid ice melt due to global warming. Vijayan’s stunning panoramic composition, created by stitching together 36 images, serves as an undeniable testament to the stark reality of climate change and its consequences on rising sea levels.

In another category, Lucy Monckton, representing the United Kingdom, was bestowed with the title of Young Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 for her compelling portrayal of a honey bee swarm in search of a new hive.

In total, photographers competed in 8 different competition categories celebrating the natural world: Animal Behaviour, Camera Traps, Landscapes, Small World, The Night Sky, Underwater, Urban Wildlife, and Wild Portraits.

Scroll down and inspire yourself, Check their website for more information.

You can find more info Nature TTL:

#1 Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 By Thomas Vijayan, Canada

Austfonna Ice Cap, the world’s third-largest, on Nordaustlandet Island in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, covers about 8,000 square kilometres. It is melting at alarming rates due to global warming and contributing to rising sea levels; a grave concern. I visited Austfonna Ice Cap and captured a striking image of a waterfall created by the melting ice. Although I had been here before, it was disheartening to see the sea ice had melted in June.

#2 Young Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 By Lucy Monckton, United Kingdom

On a walk in Staffordshire, UK, I was alerted to the presence of this swarm by a loud buzzing sound. I cautiously walked into the centre of the swarm, where thousands of bees were crawling over a branch. It was important to remain calm, so while I was apprehensive about having hundreds of bees crawling over me, their well-being was my priority. Relocation is a natural process that occurs when a colony becomes too big for its home; the queen leaves with a few of the bees to find another home.

#3 Wild Portraits – Winner By Simon Biddie, United Kingdom

Compared to their female counterparts, male California sea lions are larger, have thicker necks, and possess a protruding, grey sagittal crest. During mating seasons, the males become territorial and protect their harem of up to 30 females. This male allowed us to stay with the group for a long period and was more curious about us than territorial. The sea lions in this area have expanded in number compared to other colonies in Mexico. This is thanks to the protection offered by being a UNESCO World Heritage site and a National Marine Park, where the no-take zone protects the entire food chain, providing a rich food source for the sea lions.

#4 Wild Portraits – Runner Up By Robert Gloeckner, USA

#5 Wild Portraits – Highly Commended By Julie Grohs

#6 Wild Portraits – Highly Commended By Simon Jenkins

#7 Animal Behaviour – Winner By Florian Ledoux, France

We witnessed a polar bear’s patience during a sleepy hunt on the ice in Svalbard’s frozen expanse. This male polar bear stalked seals at their breathing holes. After they evaded him, he opted to rest, vigilant and patient. As we endured the long Arctic day of 24 hours without sleeping, we eventually retreated, in awe of his resilience. In this Arctic symphony of survival, the polar bear’s unwavering determination left an indelible mark on our souls.

#8 Animal Behaviour – Runner Up By Jane Hope, United Kingdom

#9 Animal Behaviour – Highly Commended By Amish Chhagan

#10 Animal Behaviour – Highly Commended By Paul Lennart Schmid

#11 Camera Traps – Winner By Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar, Mexico

This jaguar had been seen before, so I decided to place a camera trap in a broken wall that led to the jungle. I placed one of the flashes strategically to get the jaguar’s shadow reflected on the wall behind. Poaching, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation have caused an increase in interactions with humans, and most of the time, it doesn’t end well for these cats.

#12 Camera Traps – Runner Up By Igor Mikula, Slovakia

#13 Camera Traps – Highly Commended By Tibor Litauszki

#14 Camera Traps – Highly Commended By Florian Smit

#15 Landscapes – Winner By Thomas Vijayan, Canada

#16 Landscapes – Runner Up By Florian Smit, Germany

Using a drone to gain a unique perspective, I captured this image of a trickle from the Rio Tinto River in Spain.

#17 Landscapes – Highly Commended By Justin Minns

#18 Landscapes – Highly Commended By Bernhard Schubert

#19 Small World – Winner By Florian Smit, Germany

This image was captured in Rondane National Park in Norway. It shows a dead moth lying on the surface of a bacterial film. As I looked through the viewfinder, it looked like a painting to me.

#20 Small World – Runner Up By Yicai Chang, Australia

#21 Small World – Highly Commended By Andrew Neal

#22 Small World – Highly Commended By Bernhard Schubert

#23 Underwater – Winner By Rowan Dear, United Kingdom

Over the last few years, I have witnessed a large gathering of Jelly Blubber in Sydney around March to April when the wind and currents are right to bring them from further up North. This year, we had 2-3 times more than I had ever seen. One area had a large condensed gathering, which extended down by around 5m deep. From the surface, shooting downwards, it was great to get a real depth perception of how many there were and create this alien-like environment.

#24 Underwater – Runner Up By Andy Schmid, Switzerland

#25 Underwater – Highly Commended By Mike Korostelev

#26 Underwater – Highly Commended By Talia Greis

#27 The Night Sky – Winner By Bence Mate, Hungary

I keep searching for new perspectives on photographing wildlife. This picture was taken with a remote-controlled camera placed into a fish tank. It was lucky that the wild boar stayed unmoved for the moment the picture was taken. In Hungary, where this composition was captured, the Milky Way is very rarely low enough in the sky to touch the horizon, and this phenomenon occurs only for a few days in the month of August.

#28 The Night Sky – Runner Up By Josselin Cornou, France

#29 The Night Sky – Highly Commended By Josselin Cornou

#30 Urban Wildlife – Winner By Florian Smit, Germany

This image shows a brown rat in an abandoned house captured back in 2018. I used three flashes to illuminate the scene, and used a PIR motion sensor to trigger the camera.

#31 Urban Wildlife – Runner Up By Simone Baumeister, Germany

#32 Urban Wildlife – Highly Commended By Jan Piecha

#33 Urban Wildlife – Highly Commended By Antonio Aguilera Galisteo

Related Articles:

Monochrome is the new book from world renowned photographer Peter Dazeley, known professionally as Dazeley. As the title suggests, the book concentrates on black and white imagery, but more specifically platinum prints produced using the platinotype method developed by William Willis in 1876.

Dazeley’s images of plants, animals and flowers were produced by hand with the distinctive rich, luminous quality of platinum prints giving them great depth and warmth. Monochrome has been printed on high-quality paper with metallic inks to best show off the platinum qualities. Many of Dazeley’s platinum prints also combine the process with solarization. Also known as the Sabatier effect (after Armand Sabatier who worked with solarization in the late 19th century), the method was largely forgotten until the 1930s when Man Ray’s muse Lee Miller (an accomplished photographer in her own right) accidentally switched on a light whilst developing one of Man Ray’s films. The combination of solarization and the platinum printing process produces incredibly strong and distinctive imagery.

Dazeley is one of the world’s foremost advertising and fine-art photographers. Working with 31 Studios, the foremost specialist for Platinum printing in the UK, Dazeley produced his first book 21st Century Platinum (2003), which he likened to taking photography back to its origins. As a born and bred Londoner, he has also fulfilled his passion to record the history of London, in
four highly successful books: Unseen London (2014), London Uncovered (2016), London
Theatres (2017) and London Explored (2021). He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and was awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list for services to photography and charity.

Monochrome will be released in October 2023 and is available to pre-order from:

Trope Publishing https://trope.com/collections/books/products/monochrome
Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1951963202?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_KHER4Y3J9BSTPSTGBC45