People with a cross-cultural background have found themselves scattered across numerous industries around the world. This is no different for the photography sector and Annie Leibovitz. She is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed photographers in modern time. What people do not know is that Leibovitz is from a military family making her a Military B.R.A.T.
A Military B.R.A.T. childhood
Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.A. to 2nd Generation Americans parents. Her father is of Romanian-Jewish decent and her mother is of Estonian-Jewish decent.
As a child Leibovitz moved around the world due to her father’s job as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Leibovitz and her family were at a station in the Philippines during the Vietnam War.
It was during this time that Leibovitz passion for photography begun. Her parents put it down to her exposure to the world at a young age.
Leibovitz herself even contributes her success in photography to her childhood.
“My childhood equipped me really well in portrait work: The quick encounter, where you are not going to know the subject for very long,” Leibovitz said in an interview. “These days I’m much more comfortable with the fifteen-minute relationship, than I am with a lifelong relationship.”
A career for the photo album
Throughout her career Leibovitz has built a significant collection of work and has photographed for some important and popular magazine companies and people.
The first was Rolling Stone magazine where Leibovitz was working for 10 years as the main photographer. Following that Leibovitz went on to photograph The Rolling Stones for their 1971-72 concert tour. Following this she took one of the most famous photos of John Lennon before his death in 1980.
Despite the successes listed and the many more not listed Leibovitz career was not without controversy. In 2007 the BBC created a documentary about Queen Elizabeth II. The film is twisted to make the Queen seemingly annoyed at Leibovitz during a photoshoot which was later said to be false.
The second controversy is to do with a photoshoot for Vanity Fair where Leibovitz photographed a 15-year-old Miley Cyrus at the time with her clothing removed and her back exposed to the camera. Leibovitz defended later defended the claim.
“I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,” Leibovitz said in a statement released by Vanity Fair. “Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it.”
Looking forward (through the lens)
These controversies however haven’t stopped Leibovitz in her career as to this day she still photographs popular celebrities and works for large corporations requiring her services.
She has appeared in her own online class on Masterclass, a popular online class resource. Leibovitz classes are to help improve and establish people in the photography space.
Furthermore, the Annie Leibovitz story is yet another example of cross-culturalism and people from this background establishing themselves at the top of different industries. Something that is becoming more regular as time goes on and as the world becomes more globally mobile.
What is in store for the future cross-cultural population is still to be seen but they show significant promise.
