Leibovitz and Nachtwey

This blog post is about Annie Leibovitz and James Nachtwey - and about what I have learned from their method and approach to photography.


Annie Leibovitz is particularly known for her portraits of people, she shot a lot of famous people and represented them in various ways. she said "When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph. "

The Blues Brothers - my favourite photograph by Leibovitz

When Leibovitz photographs someone, she spends time with them, talks with them and really gets to know them. She doesn't make assumptions or tell them what to do, she talks to them about it and asks them how they feel about different ideas and then they decide together what it is that they want to do.


When she was photographing the Rolling Stones she went on tour with them and lived their lifestyle, so that after some time with them, they wouldn't even notice the fact that she was taking their photograph. Many people said that they felt like that with Leibovitz, that they would think "oh, that's just Annie" and forget that she was supposed to be taking photographs of them, which gives her the opportunity to really get the core of people, when they're completely at home. It also means that they trust her and feel natural with her, which I think is the most important thing.

Portrait of Meryl Streep

James Nachtwey is a war photograher, so his work is completely different to Leibovitz's, but they also shared some things in common in terms of how they approached subjects.


Nachtwey said that because he's taking photos of people in a war situation, a lot of the social rules that people are used to no longer apply. In the society we're used to, you wouldn't take photos of people in situations of extreme grief or despair - but in cases of war, people want their story to be told so that the world knows what is happening.

Sickness

Nachtwey"I want to record history through the destiny of individuals who often belong to the least wealty classes. I do not want to show war in general, nor history with a capital H, but rather the tragedy of a single man, of a family"

Grief

He says that the reason people let him photograph them is because he shows them respect from the start.