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Annie Liebowitz
(October 2, 1949 - living) U.S.A.

Annie Liebowitz

Portrait photographer

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Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz was one of six children and was a military brat; born in Waterbury, Connecticut. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, and the family moved frequently when she was young. Annie was influenced by her mother, a modern dance instructor.

In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavors, and began to write and play music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute. She became interested in photography after taking pictures on a trip to visit her family in the Philippines. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz in Israel for several months in 1969.

When Annie returned to America in 1970, she became involved with Rolling Stone magazine, which had just launched a short time before. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Annie chief photographer of the magazine, and she remained with the magazine until 1983. Her intimate portraits of celebrities helped define the look of the magazine. Since 1983, Annie has worked as a featured portrait photographer for Vanity Fair.

Annie had a close romantic relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag. They met in 1990, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work.

After Susan's death in 2004, Newsweek published an article about Annie that made reference to her decade-plus relationship with Susan, stating that "The two first met in the late '80s, when Leibovitz photographed her for a book jacket. They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other's."

Neither Annie nor Susan had ever previously publicly disclosed whether the relationship was familial, a friendship, or romantic in nature. However, when Annie was interviewed for her 2006 book A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, she said the book told a number of stories, and that "with Susan, it was a love story".

In the preface to the new book, she speaks in greater detail about her romantic/intellectual relationship with Susan and her lesbianism, briefly discussing a book they were working on together and describes how assembling her new book was part of the grieving process after Susan's death.

Annie acknowledged that she and the late Susan were romantically involved. When asked why she used terms like "companion" to describe Susan, instead of more specific ones like "partner" or "lover", Annie finally said that "lover" was fine with her. She later repeated the assertion in stating to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Call us 'lovers'. I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan."

Annie has three children: Sarah Cameron Leibovitz (b. October 2001) was born when Annie was 51 years old. Her twins Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.

In 2007, Annie was asked by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to take her official picture for her state visit to Virginia.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leibovitz

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