Annie to get the Ansel treatment

[MIke Sherck]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=akGeVTGU4k04

Basically, Annie's been rescued by a company that's going to help her mine her image archive. Expect posters, calendars, greeting cards, and for all I know, printed towels and images on coffee cans. I think we're all likely to get right tired of those famous John Lennon and Demi Moore photos before too long. But if a rising tide lifts all boats, perhaps some other photographers (i.e., ones I like,) will get pulled along.

Yes, I'm an optimist

Mike

[Jack Dahlgren]

"Leibovitz, who photographed John Lennon hours before his death and captured Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk, in September renegotiated a $24 million loan to gain control of her photographs as well as her three brownstones in Manhattan’s West Village and a 228-acre property in Rhinebeck, New York. In return, the lender dropped its lawsuit against her."

Sounds like real estate speculation just wasn't her thing.

[Daniel Stone]

I used to "look up" to Annie, I mean, getting the chance to photograph these "luminaries" of our time(i.e. Lennon, Whoopi, Demi, etc.)

but after this little fiasco with her finances, just shows me she's less than she's made up to be, at least to me.

a fellow assistant I worked with on a job here in LA worked for her for almost a year after he got out of art school. he said he 1. learned nothing about photography from her, and 2. found out that she's about as big of a B!+ch that can be out there. Especially to her crew members.

he told me that someone who accidentally loaded a back with color instead of b/w got kicked off set immediately, and she cussed him out pretty bad(under her breath) while shooting the rest of the day.

but people still line up around the block to assist her, same with Markus Klinko and Indrani(beauty/fashion photogs in NY), they filed for bankruptcy last year. just shows how hyped up some of these people really are vs. what they actually know.

-Dan

[Thom Bennett]

he 1. learned nothing about photography from her

He was there to work; she ain't a college.

and 2. found out that she's about as big of a B!+ch that can be out there.

So? Can you imagine the pressure that she is under to produce tantalizing images and deal with high profile subjects and the myriad things that are going on during her shoots? The last thing she needs to worry about is her assistant's feelings. Again, he was there to work and make sure the shoot was a success.

he told me that someone who accidentally loaded a back with color instead of b/w got kicked off set immediately

No shit! That's a huge mistake! Of course she kicked him off the set. She couldn't trust him to do the simplest thing.

[D. Bryant]

he 1. learned nothing about photography from her

He was there to work; she ain't a college.

and 2. found out that she's about as big of a B!+ch that can be out there.

So? Can you imagine the pressure that she is under to produce tantalizing images and deal with high profile subjects and the myriad things that are going on during her shoots? The last thing she needs to worry about is her assistant's feelings. Again, he was there to work and make sure the shoot was a success.

he told me that someone who accidentally loaded a back with color instead of b/w got kicked off set immediately

No shit! That's a huge mistake! Of course she kicked him off the set. She couldn't trust him to do the simplest thing.

Annie was at the right place at the the right time in history and was prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.

She probably is a bitch to work for, she is very driven and is under a lot of pressure.

Personally I think she has what it takes to succeed at what she does.

Vision trumps technique!

Just my 2 cents,

Don Bryant

[Daniel Stone]

he 1. learned nothing about photography from her

He was there to work; she ain't a college.

He(my friend/fellow assistint) knew that, he started as an unpaid intern, moving up to a paid assistantship after a few jobs after proving himself. very true, but there's asking questions to learn, and there's learning by watching. he didn't pick up anything from her from either method.

and 2. found out that she's about as big of a B!+ch that can be out there.

So? Can you imagine the pressure that she is under to produce tantalizing images and deal with high profile subjects and the myriad things that are going on during her shoots? The last thing she needs to worry about is her assistant's feelings. Again, he was there to work and make sure the shoot was a success.

you're right! But do you know if she assisted anyone? From all the mini-movies/docu's made about her, I thought she just rolled into shooting straight from school(which ain't bad, but you have to be able to follow before you can lead IMO), so she may not fully understand the life of an assistant. who am I to know? I'm still in the assisting phase of my young career. It doesn't pay well(yet), but the knowledge I'm gaining and the people I'm networking with is well worth the lower pay.

he told me that someone who accidentally loaded a back with color instead of b/w got kicked off set immediately

No shit! That's a huge mistake! Of course she kicked him off the set. She couldn't trust him to do the simplest thing.

very true, but she's always been known for large productions, especially in the last 20 years. if there's only 2 film backs on a set, something's definitely wrong with the producer/assistant who wrote up the rental order. Just have both b/w and color loaded so you're ready to rock if she calls for either...but I hear where you're coming from.

-Dan

[Brian K]

he 1. learned nothing about photography from her

He was there to work; she ain't a college.

and 2. found out that she's about as big of a B!+ch that can be out there.

So? Can you imagine the pressure that she is under to produce tantalizing images and deal with high profile subjects and the myriad things that are going on during her shoots? The last thing she needs to worry about is her assistant's feelings. Again, he was there to work and make sure the shoot was a success.

he told me that someone who accidentally loaded a back with color instead of b/w got kicked off set immediately

No shit! That's a huge mistake! Of course she kicked him off the set. She couldn't trust him to do the simplest thing.

I have to disagree with you. While it's obvious that the assistant is there to work, there's a certain amount of training and teaching that comes along with hiring assistants, especially if they start out with you as unpaid interns. During the course of my career I hired hundreds of assistants and the fact is that none of them start out knowing how you work and need to be trained by you or your first assistant. And this is more than just an effective way to work, it's somewhat of a moral obligation to pass on what you were taught when you assisted.

As for her reputation as a bitch, in my assisting days I worked for photographers just as famous as her as well as non famous photographers and ALL of them have the pressure on them to get a shoot done properly. Some people managed to maintain civility and respect for their assistants, some were abusive. AL's reputation among assistants as a nightmare is legendary.

As for kicking an assistant off a set for loading a back with B&W instead of color, it's not a minor mistake, but maybe if she took a moment to teach that assistant how she worked the issue might never have happened. Bottom line is that the photographer is responsible for EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS ON SET. If an assistant screws up it's the photographer's fault for not training them properly, not supervising critical functions or hiring someone incompetent. An experienced photographer creates a work flow that minimizes the possibility of human error. On critical functions I would double check my crew, and would also have them double check me. People make mistakes, it's just that simple.

[Brian K]

Annie was at the right place at the the right time in history and was prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.

She probably is a bitch to work for, she is very driven and is under a lot of pressure.

Personally I think she has what it takes to succeed at what she does.

Vision trumps technique!

Just my 2 cents,

Don Bryant

Irving Penn was a true gentleman and just shows that you don't have to be a bitch to succeed. As for AL's vision, do you really think that a magazine or ad agency just lets her wing it? There are ADs, CDs , GDs, editors, etc on the set. And in most cases the concept for the image was determined well in advance and not necessarily by her.

[Mike Anderson]

he 1. learned nothing about photography from her

He was there to work; she ain't a college.

I think it's reasonable to expect to learn something pertinent to the field when being an assistant (or doing almost any job for that matter). Perhaps if the underlings had a better understanding of the game plan and big picture there would be less incidents of wrong film loaded, etc.

...Mike

[djcphoto]

1. learned nothing about photography from her...

I believe he learned not to load colour film instead of black and white