Over the last few days I've been doing a few different things towards my project. I've completed a few maya tutorials, written a draft for the introduction of my essay and tested a few ideas out in photoshop. I still have a busy week ahead of me (As expected for the final week I suppose).

I have amended my essay question to make it easier to answer and more direct. As my essay is focused on retouching in portraiture, I thought it would be useful to research celebrity photographers which led me to Annie Leibovitz.

Annie Leibovitz
Leibovitz is a famous photographer, she worked for Rolling Stones Magazine and also Vanity Fair. She photographed many celebrities in her career however she was best known for photographing John Lennon on the day of his death for Rolling Stone. She also took the famous image of Demi Moore naked in pregnancy for the cover of Vanity Fair. Other celebrities who have been photographed by Annie are Micheal Jackson, Bruce Springsteen , Bill Gates and Sting. Queen Elizabeth II was also photographed on her visit to the United States.

Leibovitz will feature in my essay as her photography puts across a truthfullness and honesty, which is the opposite of a retouched image. Leibovitz does not modify or change the appearance of the people she photographs, which is not the normality in the media. Annie Leibovitz said "I've always been more interested in what they do than who they are, I hope that my photographs reflect that."

Below I've included a couple of her most well-known photographs.