Photography Presentation bY Courtney baxter

Annie Leibovitz Annie Leibovitz is an American portraiture photographer who was born on 2 October 1949 in Connecticut (she is now 68). She is the third of six children of Marilyn Edith and Samuel Leibovitz; her father's parents were Romanian-Jews and her mother was a modern dance teacher of Estonian-Jewish heritage. Her father was a Lieutenant colonel (air force) so her family were moved along with his duty assignments- she took her first picture in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. During her time at high school in Maryland, she became interested in writing and playing music. She studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and continued to develop her photography skills over the next two years, whilst working in Israel for several months (1969).In 1970, she moved back to the United States and became a staff photographer for Rolling Stones magazine and was named the chief of photography by Rolling Stones publisher Jan Wenner. She kept this job title for 10 years. Annie was influenced by photographers such as Robert Frank and Henry Cartier-Bresson, as well as Richard Avedon who's portraits were an important example in her life. Annie was the last person to photograph John Lennon before he was killed and captured his relationship with Yoko Ono, which was one of the most famous photographs of all time. In the beginning, Annie Leibovitz used a 35mm range finder for her photographs then medium format and 35mm. Today she uses a medium format, Nikon/ Canon/Leica.

Annie Leibovitz’s Photography I have chosen to use Annie Leibovitz's work because of her distinctive use of black and white. I love how she is able to capture an image and portray exactly what she wants her audience to see/feel through expression and tone.

My Attempt This is my final portraiture piece. To take this, I used a 35mm focal length to create a clear photograph with some depth added through the black and white tones. This is the angle of view which Annie Leibovitz uses for her portraits. When taking my photographs I decided to keep the flash on because it made my images appear less grainy. In this photo she is central so that you can cut straight down the centre of the photo and her face. When I placed the photo into Photoshop I used the magic eraser tool to get rid of any blemishes and unnecessary shading that I didn’t want.

William Eggleston William Eggleston is an American photographer who is well known for his colour photography as an artistic medium to display in art galleries. He was born 27 July 1939 in Memphis and raised in Mississippi. His father was an engineer and his mother was the daughter of a important local judge - as a boy he enjoyed playing piano, drawing and working with electronics. From a young age he enjoyed buying postcards and cutting out pictures from magazines. William Eggleston attended Vanderbilt University for a year, Delta State College only for a semester and the University of Mississippi for roughly five years - none of which gave him a college degree. When he went to Vanderbilt he was given a Leica camera by a friend, which sparked his interest in photography, and was introduced to abstract expressionism by a visiting painter at Mississippi. He started using colour in his photos in 1965 and 1966 and in 1973, William Eggleston taught at Harvard and discovered dye-transfer printing. When at Harvard he produced his first portfolio named 14 pictures which was exhibited at MoMA in 1976. Eudora Welty (an American novelist) said that William Eggleston 'sees the complexity and beauty of the mundane world'.

William Eggleston’s Photography I have chosen to use William Eggleston's work because of his individuality and the way he experiments with colour in his photographs. I am intrigued by how he uses aesthetic in order to make his work originally vintage but modern.

My Attempt This is my final piece. I decided to use this photograph as it represented how William uses colour to make his work unique. As I was unsure on which focal length he uses, I stuck with the 35mm lens I used for my earlier photographs, and kept the flash on, as it delivered a clear image and brought out the boldness of the colours. I have tried to maintain the rule of third rule horizontally – her eyes in the top, mouth in the middle and hand in the bottom. Her face is almost central so that her expression is the main focal point and the colours draw attention to this, almost directing the viewers eyes around the photograph.

Conclusion In conclusion, I think that my attempts to replicate both Annie Leibovitz and William Eggleston’s work were somewhat successful. For the portraiture photos I used Annie’s black and white scheme in order to create a simple yet effective product. When I looked at William Eggleston’s work I noticed how he used tone in colour to enhance his photos. I tried to replicate this in my photographs. If I was to do this again I would have added shading into the Annie Leibovitz photos to give them more depth. I would have added a filter to the William Eggleston photo in order to create a vintage feel to it.