This was my anniversary gift from Kris. For almost a year now, whenever we made a trip to the bookstore, I would immediately go to the Arts/Photography section, pluck this book from the shelf, and read as much as I could, doing my best not to drool on the pages. Annie Leibovitz's photography is truly inspired and I can't help but pick up my own camera and make a humble and inexperienced attempt at taking photos of the same caliber. Of course she's had decades of experience, of trial and error, and I love her attitude toward photography, there's no pretention or ego. The following passage is taken from her book and is, quite possibly, the sole reason I loved this book so much...
...There are not many smiling people in my pictures. I've never asked anyone to smile. Almost never. Maybe a few times I felt I had to, when people looked really depressed, but I apologized for asking. You can almost hear the sigh of relief when you tell someone they don't have to smile...
...It took me years to understand that I equated asking someone to smile with asking them to do something false...
I've always loathed "smile for the camera". Being shoved into a picture that I didn't want to be in and then commanded to look happy about it. Not that I'm an unhappy person, some moments are full of smiles, ready to be captured, and some are not. I rarely ask people to smile simply because I prefer to take spontaneous pictures, not staged photos, with everyone looking like a wax work. Some of the best photo I've taken were the ones where all the occupants are unaware that a camera is even present, the slight blur in focus, the closed eyes, the genuine quality of these moments make them so memorable. These are the photographs I love the most.
