Annie Leibovitz
The most famous celebrity photographer in America, Leibovitz shoots portraits of Hollywood stars for magazines like Vanity Fair and big companies like Disney and American Express.
After studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, in 1970, 21-year-old Leibovitz approached Jann Wenner about shooting for his nascent Rolling Stone, and landed her first cover—featuring John Lennon—in 1971. She was named the magazine's chief photographer two years later, and spent more than a decade chronicling the raucous rock 'n' roll era, touring with the Stones in 1975 and earning her most famous cover in 1980 when she snapped (a naked) John Lennon and (a fully-clothed) Yoko Ono just hours before his assassination. Rolling Stone's sales numbers started to dip in the early '80s, and in 1983 she decamped to Vanity Fair. When Tina Brown was named editor-in-chief a year later, Leibovitz became VF's first contributing photo editor, and went on to shoot a series of now-iconic covers like a pregnant, nude Demi Moore (a cover that Brown initially didn't want to run) and Whoopi Goldberg submerged in a bath of milk. Leibovitz has continued to shoot for Vanity Fair—she now takes her cues from Graydon Carter—but she also takes photos for other Condé Nast magazines like The New Yorker and Vogue. And she still collects big paychecks from her corporate clients like Disney, the Gap, and American Express.
Known for her extravagant, carefully-staged shoots, Leibovitz has shot hundreds of celebrities, politicians, and moguls over the years. Now one of the highest paid photographers in the business, Leibovitz isn't without her critics. Although she once seemed to bridge the line between fine art photography and the more commercial variety, her work has leaned much more in favor of the latter over the past decade, and she's been accused of lacking imagination and recycling ideas. Some have pointed to her tendency to use clichéd set-ups (noble British actors in equestrian get-ups, all-powerful billionaires against the backdrop of a limitless ocean or sky) as proof that her creative well has run dry. Some critics have also taken her to task for what they perceive as a lack of humanity in her work. [Image via Getty]