Annie Leibovitz/Rolling Stone – January 22, 1981

If you haven’t seen it, Annie Leibovitz’s latest book “At Work” is a good read and an interesting look behind the scenes with one of the world’s most famous photographers. In it, she tells the stories of some of her iconic shots, including Rolling Stone covers of John and Yoko and the Blues Brothers, as well as Vanity Fair portraits of everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to George W. Bush’s cabinet (a classic mafioso family shot if there ever was one).   

What’s amazing about her story is, her talent notwithstanding, she was also fortunate enough to start out in a much simpler era – when a novice photographer could just call up Rolling Stone’s art director and show him her shots of anti-war rallies in San Francisco. (Granted, Rolling Stone was truly a fringe, counter-culture magazine back then.) She describes getting the plum assignment of tagging alongside notorious gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson this way: “So I just jumped in the car and went along with him for a while.” That just doesn’t happen anymore.

Leibovitz is also the subject of this week’s Time magazine’s reader-generated feature “10 Questions.”