She photographed every famous face on Earth, people who are used to the spotlight and the attention of a photographic lens, and now she works for Condé Nast. She’s one of today’s the most sought after photographer in certain industries. So yes, she’s fancy, and yes, she works with people who know how to hold themselves in front of a lens, and still, when you see an image from Annie Leibovitz, it’s special, it hits different.

So what makes her work stand out so much? We talked at length about this with the group of artists at The Artists Collab/The Art Lab. And one of the most striking things she seems to consistently achieve, is to create a connection and hold that connection with her subjects; it’s like they drop their guard when she photographs them, she shows them as people, glamorous, yes, but people, with their flaws and vulnerabilities. And that skill, that ability to connect is what sets her truly apart. 

You have to reveal yourself, show your cards, be vulnerable yourself to allow a connection like that to happen. It takes a special touch, very gentle, that lets situations be and happen, while directing the scene to get the image you want, to achieve such a connection. I don’t know Annie, and probably will never get close to her, but I feel like she must be a truly candid person, in the best sense of the term.

And then there’s composition. 

In a world flooded by subject-centered images, rule of thirds, and other low hanging compositional tools, Annie Leibovitz excels in the art of complex and unexpected compositions. The types of scenes that make your eye travel, wander, go back and look again. It’s never boring, it’s masterful.