Annie Liebovitz
Annie Liebovitz is a photographer famous for her portraits of celebrities. Her work is considered "great" by many people, but her photos stand on the border of commercialism and "art". The same can probably be said of almost any portrait photographer; the utility of the photograph as something you get paid to create can keep photos in their own special category of "not quite art". I chose one of Annie Liebovitz's photos because her style creates even more of an ambiguity between "art" and "photograph". I like her photographs because they could be paintings. The fact that they are highly staged and contrived does not take away from the interest for me. In fact, the staged nature almost seems to take away the personality of the actual person being photographed and creates a character. The people her photos create a story. In this photograph in particular, I enjoy the way the actresses look almost like dolls that have been posed. The colors and composition of the photograph is also pleasing to me. Going back to my Art Nouveau and organic shapes, I enjoy the flowing nature of the dresses and silhouettes of the actresses. I guess I like this photograph partially for the irony, as well; the actresses are being "photographed" but the photograph is not of themselves, it is of the character that Annie moulded them into and the atmosphere that was created around them.