Annie Leibovitz is the most famous and celebrated living photographer. Her original, witty pictures have been appearing on magazine covers for more than 30 years. Leibovitz was born on 2 October 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut. Her father was a career official in the US Air Force and her childhood was spent on various military bases. While studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, she took night classes in photography, and in 1970 she began working for Rolling Stone magazine.

She became Rolling Stone's chief photographer in 1973 and, by the time she left the magazine 10 years later, she had shot 142 covers and published photographic reportages on numerous stories, including her memorable accounts of Richard Nixon’s resignation and the Rolling Stones’ tour of 1975. By the beginning of the eighties, Leibovitz was considered the leading rock-music photographer and an astute observer of the social scene.

When she started working with the recently relaunched Vanity Fair in 1983, she began broadening her areas of interest, helping establish Vanity Fair as a leading commentator on the worlds of entertainment and business.