Nació en Westport, Connecticut, bajo el seno de Samuel Leibowitz y Marilyn Heit Leibowitz. En 1969 vivió en un kibutz en Israel y participó en una excavación arqueológica en el sitio del templo del Rey Salomón. Recibió una licenciatura en bellas artes del San Francisco Art Institute en 1971. Posteriormente siguió sus estudios con el fotógrafo Ralph Gibson.
Conocida por sus retratos de famosos, que abarcan desde figuras políticas a músicos y atletas. Su trabajo ha incluido revistas, moda y fotografía publicitaria. Muchos de sus retratos de famosos de la música rock se han convertido en imágenes de firma. Un ejemplo notable es su retrato de John Lennon desnudo sobre una cama, en un abrazo con su esposa, Yoko Ono, totalmente vestida, el último retrato de John Lennon que ella tomó solo un par de horas antes de su trágica muerte en diciembre de 1980.
Su carrera comenzó en 1970, cuando dio sus fotografías a la revista Rolling Stone. Desde 1970 fue fotógrafa independiente y en 1973 se convirtió en la fotógrafa jefa de esta revista y en 1975 fue fotógrafa de gira de conciertos para la banda The Rolling Stones.
Más adelante trabajó para Life, Vogue, Esquire, Time Newsweek. Ha sido fotógrafa colaboradora de la revista Vanity Fair desde 1983, y a principio de los años 1990 fundó el Estudio Annie Leibovitz en la ciudad de Nueva York.
En 1991, Liebovitz se convirtió en la segunda fotógrafa vivo y la primera mujer de todos los tiempos, cuyos trabajos fueron exhibidos en la prestigiosa National Portrait Gallery of Smithsonian Institute en Washington DC. El libro Olympic Portraits, que es el resultado de un largo proyecto de dos años, muestran a atletas olímpicos entrenando. Fue publicado en junio de 1996 cuando tuvieron lugar los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano en Atlanta. A finales de 1999 publicó un libro de fotografías de mujeres. En diciembre del 2004 perdió a la que había sido su pareja durante más de diez años, la escritora Susan Sontag. Actualmente vive en Nueva York.
Como el fotógrafo de retrato Arnold Newman, Leibovitz ha buscado en su trabajo la forma de acentuar algún aspecto del personaje público de cada sujeto. Usando todo el cuerpo del sujeto, normalmente capturado en medio de una actividad física, Leibovitz alcanza sus efectos sin aparente artificialidad y con un talento - a menudo escandaloso - que aleja su trabajo del de otros artistas de retrato. El trabajo publicitario de Leibovitz, al que ella brinda una frescura y dramatismo equivalentes, ha atraído a muchos clientes importantes.
Tres de las exposiciones de Leibovitz han recorrido los Estados Unidos y Europa. Dos fueron organizadas por la Sidney Janis Gallery (1983-1985 y 1986-1989), y la National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.) la honró en 1991 con una retrospectiva que posteriormente recorrió los Estados Unidos, Europa, y Asia. Sus premios incluyen el American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP) Photographer of the Year Award (1984) (premio al fotógrafo del año); el ASMP Innovation in Photography Award (1987) (premio a la innovación en fotografía) ; la Campaign of the Decade Award de la revista Advertising Age (1987); y el Infinity Award para fotografía aplicada del International Center for Photography (1990) (premio al fotógrafo del año), así como los premios Grammy, Kelly, y Clio.
Early life
Leibovitz was one of six children and was a military brat; her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, and family moved frequently when she was young. Leibovitz was influenced by her mother, a modern dance instructor.
In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavors, and wrote and played music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute. She became interested in photography after taking pictures on a trip to visit her family, who was then based in the Philippines. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz in Israel for several months in 1969.
Leibovitz's portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken the morning of the day on which he was shot and killed.When Leibovitz returned to America in 1970, she became involved with Rolling Stone magazine, which had just launched a short time before. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of the magazine, and she remained with the magazine until 1983. Her intimate portraits of celebrities helped define the look of the magazine.
In 1975, Leibovitz served as a concert-tour photographer for the The Rolling Stones's Tour of the Americas.
In the 1980s, Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express charge cards.
Since 1983, Leibovitz has worked as a featured portrait photographer for Vanity Fair.
In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.
In 2007, Leibovitz was asked by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to take her official picture for her state visit to Virginia.
Leibovitz had a close relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag. They met in the late 1980s, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work.
After Sontag's death in 2004, Newsweek published an article about Leibovitz that made reference to her decade-plus relationship with Sontag, stating that "The two first met in the late '80s, when Leibovitz photographed her for a book jacket. They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other's."
Neither Leibovitz nor Sontag had ever previously publicly disclosed whether the relationship was familial, a friendship, or romantic in nature. However, when Leibovitz was interviewed for her 2006 book A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, she said the book told a number of stories, and that "with Susan, it was a love story".
In the preface to the new book, she speaks in greater detail about her romantic/intellectual relationship with Sontag, briefly discussing a book they were working on together and describes how assembling her new book was part of the grieving process after Sontag's death.
In an October 17, 2006 interview with Tom Ashbrook on NPR’s On Point, Leibovitz acknowledged that she and the late Sontag were romantically involved. Ashbrook asked Leibovitz directly why she kept using vague terms like "companion" to describe Sontag, instead of more specific ones like "partner" or "lover". Leibovitz finally said that "lover" was fine with her. She later repeated the assertion in stating to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Call us 'lovers'. I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan."
Leibovitz has three children: Sarah Cameron Leibovitz (born October 2001) was born when Annie was 52 years old. Her twins Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.
