Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage - Letterman (Tue 08 Nov 2011) / New York Times (Sun 30 Oct 2011)

Water - Niagara Falls / Canada (Thu 01 Sep 2011)
Niagara Falls - Ontario / Canada (Thu 01 Sep 2011
Niagara Falls (Detail #1) - Ontario / Canada (Thu 01 Sep 2011)
Niagara Falls (Detail #2) - Ontario / Canada (Thu 01 Sep 2011)
We spent Thu 01 Sep 2011 (*) at Niagara Falls (*). When we were planning the trip back in early June 2011, I was not that keen on spending a day at the Falls. However, when Jo showed me the photos (*) of her trip there with Jenny back in 1987, I felt we had to go. I guess another kind of Pilgrimage (*).

After a little searching on wikitravel (*), we decided that we could catch a bus out from and back to Toronto (*) and not do the guided tour thing with a travel company, which included a stop at a winery. Figured by doing a local bus trip, we could do our own thing at our own pace.

On our arrival at the Falls we were mesmerised by the flowing water and spent a good hour there, just looking at the water roll over the edge. These photos and its details (exposed by cropping) capture a little of what we looked at for so long.

Watched Letterman last night and saw Annie Leibovitiz (*) being interviewed. Much of the interview touched on her new book Pilgrimage (*) which I knew was in the works (*). Was pleasantly surprised to see the Niagara Falls featured in the book as well as being the cover photo (see below).

David Letterman - Annie Leibovits - Tue 08 Nov 2011 (*)
Finally, from the New York Times (Sun 30 Oct 2011), Dominique Browning writes (*)..

So Ms. Leibovitz planned a trip to Niagara Falls. Nothing went right. They were late getting on the road; their hotel room was given away; when they finally found a place to sleep, their room had a view of a cement wall. Ms. Leibovitz, fielding calls from lawyers as she approached the falls, couldn’t take them in. “I didn’t quite get it.” But she noticed that her girls were mesmerized. She went to where they were standing, and grew still. “I was stunned by the beauty of the water (*),” she says. The picture she took that morning became the cover of the book.

Further on she talks about the creative process, about how to sustain it..

"Talent is something anyone can have. It can go away. It needs to be nurtured, taken care of. The best thing about getting older is that you kind of know what you are doing — if you stick with something. It doesn’t get easier. But you get stronger. Pilgrimage (*) is an exercise in taking care of what I do. My books are my way of being able to express myself completely."

Pilgrimage - Cover - Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz - Sydney Morning Herald (Nov 2010)

The Annie Leibovitz exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990–2005 has just opened at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. Here are three articles that have featured in the Sydney Morning Herald over the last two weeks.

Annie Leibovitz - Spectrum (Cover) / Sydney Morning Herald - 06 Nov 2010
A life in Photography by Robert McFarlane - Spectrum (Page 6) / Sydney Morning Herald - Sat 06 Nov 2010
A life in Photography by Robert McFarlane - Spectrum (Page 7) / Sydney Morning Herald - Sat 06 Nov 2010
Life and death, put into perspective by Joyce Morgan - Sydney Morning Herald - Wed 17 Nov 2010 (Article)
Annie Leibovitz - The Diary - Sydney Morning Herald - 19 Nov 2010
Also see Beyond the flashing bulbs of fame by Andrew Taylor (Sun 14 Nov 2010) ..

Leibovitz's disdain for celebrity is reflected in "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990-2005", which opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday.

Just a third of the exhibition features the high-profile names that have turned Leibovitz into a celebrity. There are more images of family and friends and 40 photos include documentary shots of lives ruined by war in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

MCA's director Liz Ann Macgregor said these were her favourite works: "Two of these unforgettable images achieve their strength by showing what is not there – in the absence of victims, we see only the aftermath of war and the bloodshed left behind."

In contrast, Leibovitz said the intimate shots of her parents on the beach and brother and father posing bare-chested, arms crossed, were her "most important work".

"It tells the best story, and I care about it. You don't get the opportunity to do this kind of work except with people who you love: people who will put up with you."

I have enjoyed seeing the personal side of Leibovitz's work and will definitely go to the exhibition.

Have a copy of Susan Sontag's (Leibovitz's Lover) Monograph On Photography which I bought in Canberra in 2002. It seemed an odd relationship because of Sontag's views on photography. I could empathise with their situation with Sontag's journey with Breast Cancer and I remember following the news of Sontag's final weeks and then reading Sontag's New York Times Obituary.

Like all professional photographers, there is definitely a private side to Leibovitz's Photography and I am sure most photographers like myself want to see the private side.

I look forward to viewing the exhibition. I saw the exhibition's book a few years ago. What I really look forward to, though, is the Landscape Photograph work which will feature in future book titled Pilgrimage.