You may have seen the Pregnant Demi Moore cover of Vanity Fair? Or the infamous naked John Lennon/Yoko Ono cover of Rolling Stone Magazine? What about the controversial topless 15 year old Miley Cyrus for a 2008 cover?

The first two photographs were numbers 1 and 2 for most influential of our century. But the real question is: Who is the famous photographer?

Answer: Annie Leibovitz

She is a woman who could make a person’s flaws into treasures with one photograph. From the east coast, she moved cross country and went to photography school in San Francisco and worked her career from there. 

Over time, she’s worked for Rolling Stone and is a common contributor to the New Yorker, New York Times Magazine and most prominently, Vanity Fair.

(Keith Richards, Photo: adage.com)

I am most familiar with her work in Vanity Fair magazines.  She mostly contributes for taking the biggest celebrity photo spreads each year. Some of these include the the first photographs of Suri Cruise, the covers of Vanity Fair’s Yearly Hollywood Issue (March) and The Disney “Year of A Million Dreams” campaign. Prominent actors that she’s photographed include Angelina Jolie, Roger Federer, Robert Downey Jr. Nicole Kidman and various more.

For some celebrity photographs, look here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/hollywood_covers_slideshow [Vanity Fair covers]

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/12/motown_portfolio200812 [Best in Motown]

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/03/filmnoir_portfolio200703 [Killers Kill, Dead Man Die]

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/07/onthecover_slideshow200707 [The Africa Shoot]

For other photographs she’s taken:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/photos/leibovitz/paltrow.html