Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Jeremy Roussak on July 31, 2009, 04:12:09 am
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I seem to recall that her deal for credit was discussed here a few months ago. This (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5943134/Annie-Leibovitz-sued-against-value-of-entire-collection.html) is from today's Daily Telegraph.
Jeremy
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I seem to recall that her deal for credit was discussed here a few months ago. This (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5943134/Annie-Leibovitz-sued-against-value-of-entire-collection.html) is from today's Daily Telegraph.
Jeremy
Wow. $24 million.
I mean, really. How could one go that far in debt? A truckload of Hasselblad H3's with every lens and all the goodies wouldn't even scratch the paint on it.
"Expensive tastes"?
I can't even get my head around it.
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Here's a more detailed article about it in The New York Times: Lender Sues Annie Leibovitz, Seeking Her Homes to Pay $24 Million Debt (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/nyregion/31leibovitz.html)
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The New York Times has another story today: For Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/fashion/02annie.html?ref=nyregion):
"So as the news has spread in recent months that Ms. Leibovitz is facing extraordinary financial troubles, with the possibility of losing her Civil War-era town houses in Greenwich Village, a home in upstate New York and the rights to decades of her work, many have formulated the same questions: How is this possible? How could an artist of her standing be in such financial straits? If Annie Leibovitz can’t make it in New York, who can?"
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deleted
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The New York Times has another story today: For Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/fashion/02annie.html?ref=nyregion):
"So as the news has spread in recent months that Ms. Leibovitz is facing extraordinary financial troubles, with the possibility of losing her Civil War-era town houses in Greenwich Village, a home in upstate New York and the rights to decades of her work, many have formulated the same questions: How is this possible? How could an artist of her standing be in such financial straits? If Annie Leibovitz can’t make it in New York, who can?"
Who, beyond the lady herself, can answer such questions? An uninformed guess would suggest that some people just believe their own hype and live up to the dream and not the reality. Just like some bankers seem to have done. For what it´s worth, I feel that too much credit is sometimes available and, that in some instances, the lenders are as gullible as their clients: star-blinded, in fact.
Rob C
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Wow. $24 million.
I mean, really. How could one go that far in debt? A truckload of Hasselblad H3's with every lens and all the goodies wouldn't even scratch the paint on it.
"Expensive tastes"?
I can't even get my head around it.
FWIW it is not uncommon for very successful people to lose track of money. Someone I consulted for, who became a friend, had earnings that very very few obtain. I don’t want to mention numbers. He was generous to a fault. He was a gifted surgeon and took on countless cases that paid little or nothing. But because he was gifted, he made a vast fortune despite his generosity.
Over his career he bought many properties and businesses and their cash flow combined with his earnings gave him a cash flow that was impressive, to say the least. A combination of his generous nature, plus what turned out to be decades of bad management, theft he endured, bad luck, and all the things that can go wrong, did ultimately go wrong. But if he ever cared he never showed it, because his earnings were so great.
He became very ill due to cancer, and that caused him to be unable to work. That was the tipping point for him and his cash flow dried up quickly. Adding to that, he fell into the hands of both incompetent and dishonest assistants (lawyers and his managers) and years of mis-management that were never revealed due to his income. In the end, he lost the vast majority of what he had. It was all his fault, and I believe he never saw it coming.
The reason I mention this is that it is not uncommon for successful (read that wealthy) people to lose track of their wealth. If something becomes as common as water, people will share it increasingly, thinking that they are invincible.
It appears that she likely fell into at least some of the same issues as my friend (who has passed on). I don’t know if she became ill, but it wouldn’t be surprising to suspect that she suffered from burnout. Combine a reduction of cash flow, with decades of expenses based on a very high income and a tendency towards generosity and the results are foreseeable.
The good news is that as long as she stays healthy, according to the article I read, she will have no problem pulling herself out.
The lessons are clear: beware of being too generous and try not to over-extend yourself.
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Funny thing: each time I play the dvd with the Annie interview (by her sister) I feel more and more sympathy for the lady. Far from coming on à la diva she sounds perfectly grounded and speaks plain sense. I always get the same urge to start working afresh (seen the dvd about five or six times now) and particularly during the bits where she works with her Nikon or Leica. I´m sure it isn´t really about her photography with those things, but more the trace memory they inspire, albeit sans the Leica input, as I never owned one.
How sad to see her having troubles. I wish her well.
Rob C
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Funny thing: each time I play the dvd with the Annie interview (by her sister) I feel more and more sympathy for the lady. Far from coming on à la diva she sounds perfectly grounded and speaks plain sense. I always get the same urge to start working afresh (seen the dvd about five or six times now) and particularly during the bits where she works with her Nikon or Leica. I´m sure it isn´t really about her photography with those things, but more the trace memory they inspire, albeit sans the Leica input, as I never owned one.
How sad to see her having troubles. I wish her well.
Rob C
Rob,
Her work is fantastic. What is the title of the DVD you have?
Alain
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Rob,
Her work is fantastic. What is the title of the DVD you have?
Alain
Alain, I recorded it off a BBC TV show. It's an interview made by her sister and includes contributions from the head of Rolling Stone, Tina Brown, Anna Wintour and several others of that stature. I´ll run it again and catch the title, but I don´t think it is on release in the shops.
Rob C
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Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens
Kumar
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NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111512809) (National Public Radio) did a story about this. Briefly, she invested in several New York town houses in a trendy area, was renovating them, got sued and things snowballed from there. In addition, within the last five years, her long time partner, Susan Sontag, died as well as both her parents and she added two children to her family. Given the consistent quality of her photographic output during this time, I suspect the posters who commented that her mind was focused elsewhere than her money hit the nail squarely.
It does go to emphasize the fact that success, wealth, and talent are no protection. In reality we're all working without a net, to use a tightrope analogy, and need to keep that in mind when we decide to jump on 'good' ideas and 'sure' things.
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Here's a Bloomberg story: Leibovitz May Have Better Luck in Bankruptcy Court (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVqoCL8QztbQ)
“Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz may be better off declaring bankruptcy than battling a creditor suing her for breaching a contract related to a $24 million loan, bankruptcy experts said.”
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Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens
Kumar
That´s the one!
Rob C
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That´s the one!
Rob C
Here's the link to Amazon US:
Life Through a Lens (2007) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C71IEM/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p74_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=15X5DMZM5WZEWH61KRN0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939031&pf_rd_i=507846)
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I ran into Annie while on vacation this past December and All I can say is that she is not a nice person.
I saw her walking alone (heading to a parking lot) and I said I was a fan and held out my hand.
She looked up at me and then kept walking. She did not seem to be in a hurry, have her hands full etc.
She just left me hanging there with my hand out.
Love her work but not her style...
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I ran into Annie while on vacation this past December and All I can say is that she is not a nice person.
I saw her walking alone (heading to a parking lot) and I said I was a fan and held out my hand.
She looked up at me and then kept walking. She did not seem to be in a hurry, have her hands full etc.
She just left me hanging there with my hand out.
Love her work but not her style...
I like some of her work, and recommeded her book "At Work":
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....mp;#entry273039 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31444&st=45&p=273039&#entry273039)
But her work, her books and her shows never led me to expect her to be a "nice person" I would like to meet. Besides, when in the public eyes, only the most genuine and the bravest would expose their true selves. And there are not many of them.
OTOH, many great photographers do let their work express their values and personalities. I never get that feeling from AL's work.
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I ran into Annie while on vacation this past December and All I can say is that she is not a nice person.
I saw her walking alone (heading to a parking lot) and I said I was a fan and held out my hand.
She looked up at me and then kept walking. She did not seem to be in a hurry, have her hands full etc.
She just left me hanging there with my hand out.
Love her work but not her style...
Mel, did it ever occur to you that she might have been terrified of being mugged?
Rob C
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I ran into Annie while on vacation this past December and All I can say is that she is not a nice person.
I saw her walking alone (heading to a parking lot) and I said I was a fan and held out my hand.
She looked up at me and then kept walking. She did not seem to be in a hurry, have her hands full etc.
She just left me hanging there with my hand out.
Love her work but not her style...
Assuming the poster is serious and his post isn't a tongue-in-cheek joke...
A female celebrity, walking alone near a parking lot, is approached by a male stranger who claims he's a fan and who wants to shake hands. The woman makes eye contact, says nothing, and continues walking.
Any cop would tell you she did exactly the right thing in that situation. Make eye contact, give the guy a glare that says "Get the fuck away," keep walking, and have your mace spray in your hand.
As to the poster's conclusion that Liebovitz' refusal to do what he wanted makes her "not a nice person"...
Nahh, it's gotta be a joke. Nobody could seriously be that self-absorbed.
...Could they?
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Sadly, it looks like the noose is tightening. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWm74SpRNN3mHids9AJDoW7GdlJA)
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I met her once on a movie set. I agree with the previous poster's opinion: "she is not a nice person"
Also, she or her associates may be guilty of copyright infringement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8240403.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8240403.stm)
Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is being sued by an Italian photographer who says she used his pictures without permission.
Paolo Pizzetti claims Ms Leibovitz used photos he took in Venice and Rome, and passed them off as her own in a 2009 calendar for a coffee company.
He is seeking a court order to stop the images from being used and $300,000 (£183,000) for copyright infringement.
A spokesperson for Ms Leibovitz declined to comment.
According to legal papers filed at a New York federal court, Mr Pizzetti said Ms Leibovitz, 59, hired him to scout locations in Italy for an advertising campaign for Lavazza coffee in April 2008.
He said he photographed the Trevi Fountain in Rome and Plaza San Marco in Venice as well as other images which he sent to her digitally, but was later informed Ms Leibovitz would not be travelling to Italy for the photo shoot.
'Same bird'
Mr Pizzetti said that in October, when the calendar was released, he noticed two of his photographs had been used, with models superimposed on it.
A comparison of the Plaza San Marco photo shows "the same wet weather conditions, cloud formation and the same bird in the upper left portion of the photograph," Mr Pizzetti said in the complaint.
Annie Leibovitz's New York home
Leibovitz is in danger of losing her New York homes if she fails to pay the loan
"It is clear that the Leibovitz defendants copied the Plaza work authored by Pizzetti and edited it," he said.
He added that Ms Leibovitz at no point told him she planned on using his photographs in the calendar, nor requested his permission to do so.
Mr Pizzetti is also seeking other unspecified damages as well as requesting the photographs to be destroyed.
The legal case is the latest to hit Ms Leibovitz, who is also currently being sued for defaulting on a $24m (£14.6m) loan secured against the rights to her entire collection.
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Looks like she got a reprieve (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1131480120090911) for the loan payback date.
According to legal papers filed at a New York federal court, Mr Pizzetti said Ms Leibovitz, 59, hired him to scout locations in Italy for an advertising campaign for Lavazza coffee in April 2008.
I wonder if there's a question of ownership based on work-for-hire rules.
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Friday's New York Times has an update: Annie Leibovitz Tries to Regain Financial Footing (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/arts/design/11leibovitz.html?ref=design).