"Even in the Darkest times, it can be the most interesting times..."
WATCH THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEjho8I8XBY&feature=related
On April 29th, things started to make sense again. I have been wondering a lot about my creative life path lately, unsure of most of the steps I've been taking and questioning what it even means to have impact as a journalist.
After a long day of classes and running on about three hours of sleep, Susy and I headed into Hendrick's Chapel with 1,000 others to witness a lecture given by world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, formerly of Rolling Stone Magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. Her photographs are both iconic and legendary, but what struck me most was her focus on family.
Leibovitz cautioned us as students to not always try to go to the ends of the earth for a subject, because while that may be fun, exciting, and important to do, our best subjects are right in front of us: our family and friends.
She began with a story. Last summer, in the midst of some financial trouble, Leibovitz intended to take her two young daughters to Niagara Falls for a weekend trip, and to stay in a hotel with a view of the falls. After her credit card was declined, she was forced to relocate to a motel with a view of a wall.
She schleped around for the rest of the day, attempting to hide her embarrassment and saddness, and then took some stunning photographs of the falls and her girls looking on, mesmerized. It was then that she decided to put together her latest book, "At Work," which encapsulates her resounding career from a more personal perspective. This was a low point for her, but she reiterated how you never know when you will take your best photograph, or capture a a touching moment.
She cited Dorothea Lange's picture of the depression era migrant mother to emphasize this point. Lange was headed out of town and felt compelled to stop once more, even though she had thousands of photographs already.
Leibovitz showed us many of her famous photographs: Mikhail Baryshnikov leaping through the waves, Dme Moore's pregnant belly, Nicole Kidman, the Roosevelt Manor at Val-kill, and the Queen Mother at Buckingham Palace. She briefly mentioned photographing Nixon right after his resignation, John and Yoko on the very day Lennon was shot, and on her award winning magazine covers.
But she said that her favorite photograph, if asked to choose, was of her mother. This is about where I lost it. The face was honest, nervous, but direct. Leibovitz said that it was as if the camera had melted away; this was the way that her mother looked at her always in honest moments.
I appreciated this woman's raw and intimate portrait of her life- she is a REAL woman who has had untold adventures and stories to tell, yet still values her mother's image above the rest.
Not to make a plug, but I'm going to make a plug:order your copy now of "At Work." I'll include a link. The photographs made me cry happy, sad, and hopeful tears. You might too, or I could just be ridiculously emotional right now. Nonetheless, their beautiful. www.amazon.com/Annie-Leibovitz-at-Work/dp/0375505105
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