Who will save Annie Leibovitz?

John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on the cover of Rolling Stones, January 1981
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the Blues Brothers featured on the cover of Rolling Stones, 1979

Even though Annie Leibovitz is a renowned photographer with a commercial cliental, in recent years she has put herself in a financial hole. It’s a tragedy, and Graphis offers her all of our resources and support. Presently, she owes more than $24 million to Art Capital Group, a fine arts creditor. In an initial attempt to consolidate her debt, she signed away the rights to all of her iconic photographs. Thankfully, Leibovitz renegotiated the agreement last month and is once again the sole agent of her work.

At least temporarily.

We would like to see an angel come forward and relieve Leibovitz from this mounting debt. It could be a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet — anyone who can pay off her creditor and put Leibovitz on a more manageable payment plan. Society would owe a debt to such a savior.

Leibovitz’s work has always been held in the highest regard, but we’re again reminded of her genius from two of her most recent books: A Photographer’s Life 1990 – 2005 and At Work. Both are marvelous — the former as a retrospective of the period; the latter for its practical wisdom on photography as a profession. Anyone who loves photography or aspires to work as a photographer should own at least one.

Unfortunately, At Work is a reminder of how much Leibovitz has lost, especially in the following passage: “I don’t have a single favorite photograph. What means the most to me is the body of my work. similar sites The accumulation of photographs over years.”

Here’s hoping Annie Leibovitz finds relief somewhere, sometime very soon.

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Meryl Streep as featured in January’s 2012 issue of Vogue
Whoopi Goldberg peering out from a milk bath, 1984
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Excerpts from Demi Moore’s photo shoot with Leibovitz for the August 1991 issue of Vanity Fair
Author: Kayla Harris for Graphis

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