I’m not certain why I hadn’t seen it before, but I watched Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens on Ovation TV this weekend and it’s easily the best documentary about a photographer that I’ve seen. Whether you love her or loathe her (and there is rarely a middle ground when it comes to Annie) this documentary will definitely help you understand her.
Spanning five decades this documentary is a wonderful look at the evolution and career arc of an artist from her early reportage to her current mega-productions it’s loaded with insight not only into her success but also what makes her tick. Getting a backstage look at a photo shoot is always fun and with productions as large as these, it’s all the more interesting. Yet perhaps the most interesting thing is the opportunity to hear Annie, her subjects and her editors voice their thoughts about her greatest hits. It’s definitely worth a watch, so if you missed it of you just want to watch it again and again, order from Amazon.
Congrats to fellow Mizzou photojournalism alum, director Louie Psihoyos for his Oscar nomination and Directors Guild win for ‘The Cove’. As an old friend, I still remember Louie getting his film debut in a cameo as a news photographer in a Sylvester Stallone film in Dubuque, Iowa before going on to J-School…well look who’s invited to the Red Carpet this year…
I’m in New York attending the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Barry Levinson’s film PoliWood with my friends from The Creative Coalition. The film both examines lobbying efforts by Hollywood celebrities as well as how the television media has changed since it’s origins as “profit” has overtaken “public service”.
Since I was working on the book Art and Soul as Levinson was editing his film, I was invited to a rough cut screening. Watching the transformation from rough cut to release is a fascinating process if you’ve never seen it. After the rough cut screening I was aked by Levinson and producers Robin Bronk and Robert Baruc, for suggestions about what they should change. I must say that I thought the idea of giving “notes” to the Oscar-winning director of Rainman may seem absurd. But what this taught me was that though Levinson might not have need a critique of camera angles, he clearly wanted to know how he could better communicate his message.
“Better Communication of Your Message” Can’t we all learn from that? If an Oscar-winning director like Barry Levinson wants to know how to communicate better, shouldn’t we all?
"PoliWood" world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
"PoliWood" director Barry Levinson with Frank Luntz, Matthew Modine, Tim Daly, Josh Lucas, Wendy Malick and Ellen Burstyn at the Tribeca Film Festival world premiere.
"PoliWood" producers Robert Baruc, Robin Bronk, director Barry Levinson and producer Tim Daly at the "PoliWood" after-party.
Tim Daly and Brian Smith at the "PoliWood" after-party.
Smith is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and a X-Rite Coloratti and has appeared on Fine Living Channel teaching a Little League Mom how to become a Big League Sports Photographer. His photography career began as a high school swimmer clearly not destined for the Olympics in the pool, yet this provided him with the opportunity to photograph swimming and other sports as a stringer for the Ames Daily Tribune.
Smith is President of Editorial Photographers, an organization of 2,000 of the top magazine photographers and newspaper photojournalists from around the world. He is frequently a speaker at photography seminars and to photo students at colleges, universities and art institutes around the country and can often be found on a flight headed to the Caribbean, Latin America or the American South from his home in Miami Beach, Florida.
Spanning five decades this documentary is a wonderful look at the evolution and career arc of an artist from her early reportage to her current mega-productions it’s loaded with insight not only into her success but also what makes her tick. Getting a backstage look at a photo shoot is always fun and with productions as large as these, it’s all the more interesting. Yet perhaps the most interesting thing is the opportunity to hear Annie, her subjects and her editors voice their thoughts about her greatest hits. It’s definitely worth a watch, so if you missed it of you just want to watch it again and again, order from Amazon.
I’m in New York attending the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Barry Levinson’s film 
