Something weird is going on with vaunted Vogue photographer Annie Leibovitz who seems to have lost, or else never had, any ability to properly photograph black people.
Here’s the harrumphing from the Daily Beast:
On Tuesday, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz sneak-peeked photos from what Vogue Editor-in-Chief Ann
a Wintour called a “historic portrait” for the mag’s famed September issue, released just before the Supreme Court’s new term begins in October. Jackson made history in April when she was confirmed as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court. “United States Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., 2022,” Leibovitz tweeted with two images of Jackson at the National Mall. The first showcased her leaning on a column, somewhat tucked in the shadows, while the bright marble statue of Abraham Lincoln radiates in the background. In the second image, Jackson sits in the foreground of a three-quarter shot, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool stretching behind her.
But the images got an overwhelmingly lukewarm reception online, where observers pointed to Leibovitz’s equally underwhelming photos of Black gymnast Simon Biles (for Vogue) and Black actress Viola Davis (for Vanity Fair) to question whether she simply has no idea how to illuminate darker-skinned subjects.
And yes, the criticism is completely correct. Here’s what Leibovitz tweeted:
United States Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., 2022 / For @voguemagazine pic.twitter.com/5jMI3KwIbc
— Annie Leibovitz (@annieleibovitz) August 16, 2022
Brown looks washed out, chalky, overshadowed, flat and muddled. There’s no vibrance in her skin tones, which need basic illumination to be seen properly.
The New York Post noted that her photos were panned by the public on Twitter, too:
“You can hardly see her. Please learn to light darker complexions properly,” one user wrote.
“I’m begging you to light black women better her skin tone is not grey,” said another.
Others said it was not the first time the former Rolling Stone journalist dropped the ball while depicting people of color.
One “infuriated” detractor wrote that it appeared Leibovitz used the “same lighting set-up she used on Simone Biles” in 2020 — a photoshoot which some critics called “degrading.”
Some Twitter users took issue with the composition of a shot that featured Jackson standing below Lincoln’s likeness at sunset.
“I understand the intended message, but I think this send a *Lincoln freed the slaves and look what they achieved* message. A little too white saviorish, especially with that lighting,” someone wrote.
Which does make you wonder what’s going on. Why does Vogue’s Devil-Wears-Prada, mean-chick boss, Anna Winotour, a top ally of the Democrat establishment, seem so interested in praising such fiascos as these?
Why is there such a history of botching black women’s skin tones at that magazine? Recall, for example, not just the examples of Biles and Davis, cited above, but also Kamala Harris, whose skin tone was criticized in her Vogue photo shoot as overly lightened, which isn’t natural, either. It’s weird stuff, given that correctly illuminating black skin in the photo editing process is a Photography 101 skill that even I know how to do. Vogue, meanwhile, is a top fashion photography magazine that regularly photographs black models, even very dark-skinned models, such as Alek Wek, to excellent effect.
Couldn’t a beat photographer at that mag have been called for the job, instead of this incompetent? READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE at American Thinker (LINK)
