Page 3 Profile: Annie Leibovitz, photographer

Annie Leibovitz (Rex)

Annie Leibovitz! Do I look OK?!

Don’t worry about your best side for the minute. The celebrity photographer of celebrities is busy snapping stars for the new Marks and Spencer ad campaign. M&S have hired Leibovitz to take photos of some impressive women, including: singer Ellie Goulding, campaigner Katie Piper, actress Helen Mirren and artist Tracey Emin.

Ooh! They must be paying her a fair bit?

She won’t disclose how much, but photographers of her calibre can expect around £100,000 a day. In her time she’s photographed everyone from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, to the Queen and created the ground-breaking Vanity Fair cover featuring a heavily pregnant Demi Moore.

Wow, How did she start out?

No super-trendy New York upbringing for Annie. She was born in Connecticut and moved around a lot with her family because her father was a lieutenant in the US Airforce. She took her first pictures when she was stationed with him in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. She went on to study painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, something which is clear in her highly stylised photography. She landed her first job at Rolling Stone magazine when it was just starting out in the 1970s and hasn’t looked back.

Sounds a bit edgy for M&S…

Actually, Leibovitz is the perfect choice for the high street giant. She was awarded The Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship in 2009 because of her sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography. She is both cool and part of the establishment, something that M&S is desperate to be.