[Thanks to Mike J.]
How Could This Happen to Annie Leibovitz?, article.I know I've been wondering. How does the most successful photographer of her generation get into mind-boggling financial trouble?
"Leibovitz’s obsessiveness was reflected in her mothering, Kellum says. When Sarah started eating solid food, a rigorous journaling policy was instituted, in which every bite and bowel movement was to be committed to an unlined black notebook purchased from the Swedish stationer Ordning & Reda. Kellum regularly ordered replacement books from Stockholm so that the journaling could easily continue from one book to another. Once, when an order got lost in customs, Leibovitz insisted on having two notebooks sent from Stockholm via a special type of courier service called “quicking.” It was essentially like buying a seat for a parcel on the next plane. The shipping cost alone came to $800."
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27 comments:
... in which every bite and bowel movement was to be committed to an unlined black notebook purchased from the Swedish stationer Ordning & Reda.
She totally lost it here. Ordning & Reda sucks as a notebook brand. She should have gone for a U.S. product, or maybe Italian if she wanted to be fancy. Anything but Ordning & Reda.
Moleskine comes from Italy, by the way.
Notebook enthusiasts. Wow. That goes beyond anything I'd imagined.
"Notebook enthusiasts. Wow. That goes beyond anything I'd imagined."
And that's why I enjoy the blogosphere. As someone posted elsewhere: blogging is simple; it is commenting that is difficult.
Am I ever glad I'm not world-famous.
I couldn't imagine being in debt by $24-million. That's probably more than some third-world countries :)
As a wit once said, "The hard part of being broke is watching the rest of the world go buy."
"What some people mistake for the high cost of living is really the cost of high living."
Very true. Annie certainly has that.
But even the average upper-middle-class westener has tons of expenses which are really redundant.
Yeah, I don't know how this could have happened to Leibovitz. (lol!) She is, basically, a *recovering drug addict*...for LIFE...who:
struggles to handle her finances, responsibly;
is also a perfectionist afraid that she never quite has the right shot...so behaves compulsively in that arena, as well as, in many others. :-(
I bet she'll *really* want to thank this article writer for her phone just ringing off the hook, after this piece! YIKES!! Very revealing article!
But even the average upper-middle-class westener has tons of expenses which are really redundant.
Most of what people in the West spend money on is "redundant" or you could say frivolous. But it's what drives the economy. Without money being spent on the junk it's spent on, where would there be any money? Actually in that case you might findt hat the only countries with money would be those rich in raw materials, which right now don't have anywehre near the dough that countries have which buy those raw materials to produce finished goods.
It's hard to believe she could accumulate that kind of debt, but hard to believe that a photographer could make that kind of money in the first place. Especially that particular photographer. Her pictures look too processed, at her most recent ones, like they were generated by a computer or assembled piece by piece from a hundred different photos. And, really, she's not an artist. She is the equivalent of Norman Rockwell. Few would call him an artist. I doubt he would have called himself one.
Jimbo,
Yes, more proof that being an artist is not necessarily a good thing in the financial area.
Anon, good point, I always found it funny that the countries with the natural resources are not the rich ones.
One thing that's kind of funny is how these "artsy" types are so clueless when it comes to money. Mark Twain lost tons in bad investments. Dumas made and lost several fortunes. Pavarotti didn't know how to write a cheque, he let assistants do everything like that (although at least he appears to hve had the sense to let someone look after his money for him). It's pretty common. Although in Leibovitz's case it appears to be partly as the article suggests that hanging with people like Madonna and Oprah made her think she could live the way they live.
Developed countrys have already exploited their raw materials, so it's the undeveloped countrys, with raw, but they need the money and expertise from developed. Yes, good point, anon. Watch out for China, developing, and has raw.
Over on TOP, where this thread started, Hugh Crawford makes some very valid points about artists, and the connection between art and certain low level, bad behaviors.
Yes, I saw at least his Feature Comment here.
"It's easy to say that a reasonable and sensible person wouldn't get into her mess but a reasonable and sensible person wouldn't get hired to do what she does."
Sounds right, but why?
Developed countrys have already exploited their raw materials, so it's the undeveloped countrys, with raw, but they need the money and expertise from developed. Yes, good point, anon. Watch out for China, developing, and has raw.
Well, what about a country like Canada? Rich in natural resources, especially lumber, but as a first world, developed country is nowhere near as rich as, say, the U.S. or even some European countries.
Eolake said...
"Sounds right, but why?"
From what I have read of Annie, and have seen of her work, she strikes me as (along w/the perfectionism) a *no bars held* type of mentality: she seems to have both the *need to please disease* (that constant worry about not getting the *right* shot) where whatever it takes (in her case...extreme over-excess in EVERYTHING that she does/did to the point of obsession and then, finally, her [possible] demise of being known as one of the greats) to get the *right* shot.
I was thinking of the Tina Brown photo shoot where she went overboard (a wind machine in freezing-ass March?! ugh! The location?!) and then insisted on, personally, paying for it and...at the end of the day, *ate* that photo shoot, altogether. How does a person make a living working like that, too many times?! :-( Is that an act of generosity or...martyrdom on her part? Is it guilt w/knowing how *over-the-top* she must know of herself or self-sabotage?
In many ways, I believe that people took open advantage of her *weaknesses*...those who knew that she would go to the ends of the earth to get a picture but...ended up mostly eating herself up! She probably had a reputation of *eating it* financially, in order to get *the right* shot.
So...along w/the *need to please disease* she was also wanting to create these elaborate *visions* which is, of course, her creative nature which would take some doing to create. She definitely tends to go with *unique* in her photography...which tends to become costly to create such a vision.
As with creating anything, where do you stop? And...as an artist, she didn't know where that ended w/each shoot. She refused to put a limit on her own creativity so...IMHO...that is how something like *this* happens to an artist: going broke trying to convey the vision w/no *earthly* constraints (um...that would be a *budget*) on the creativity.
It also sounds like she could have used someone who wasn't emotionally involved in the creation of the vision, to actually bill the client for her work! It doesn't sound like she had that very well in place, either. :-(
Business manager, that's what I need, as well as one for Annie. Ahh, business managers for the crowd.
Somewhat off topic, but when and why did manic-depressive become bi-polar?
Somewhat off topic, but when and why did manic-depressive become bi-polar?
I've wondered that myself.
Bron said...
"...when and why did manic-depressive become bi-polar?"
and
Jimbo said...
"I've wondered that myself."
Gentlemen: for your reading *pleasure*. Essentially, it appears that they are one and the same illness.
Hoping this makes you sleep better! Not quite the bedtime story that I would want but...each to his own! lol! ;-)
I'm pretty sure Bron did mean when did the term change.
Anon said...
"I'm pretty sure Bron did mean when did the term change."
Right. The last paragraph of that *blurb* covers that question also.
A group wants to control the discussion about manic-depression, and so they change the name. This invalidates all previous discussion to a certain degree. Those controlling the new label can re-invent the problem and the solution for their own benefit.
Could it be that it's just more accurate? Nah, couldn't be that. Why believe something reasonable when you can believe in some weird conspiracy. Choose the one which makes you feel special, the one which makes you feel like you're one of the small group in the know.
Anon said....
Well, what about a country like Canada? Rich in natural resources, especially lumber,...is nowhere near as rich .. the U.S. or some European countries.
It is about the value added process. The tree standing in the forest has a value which is much less that the finished product value.
Think of the table in your dining room or the bed you are sleeping on. It is the one doing the manufacturing to get the product to the show room is the one who makes the money.
Joe
"She totally lost it here. Ordning & Reda sucks as a notebook brand."
Fuckin' right!
French brand Clairefontaine is excellent.
Not sure they make moleskine covers, though.
Trivia: "moleskine" comes from the English "mole-skin". But it's actually made with cotton, not the stolen hide of dead burrowing animals.
"That's probably more than some third-world countries"
Lebanon has about $48 billion debt. Top THAT!
Mine is bigger than yours. Take THAT, Annie Leibovitz! Unh! Unh! Who's your daddy?
Not that we Lebanese like to brag or anything...
"Most of what people in the West spend money on is "redundant" or you could say frivolous."
So true.
It drives the economy? Then the economy is a fraud, a virtual construction in permanent danger of collapsing.
Which is precisely what almost happened this year, courtesy of the equally virtual financial world construct.
Don't anybody tell me that millions of Americans losing their homes can ever be good for the REAL economy. One way or another, it's gonna cost the country dearly.
But I'm sure SOMEBODY managed to make billions of profit from it...
"Actually in that case you might findt hat the only countries with money would be those rich in raw materials, which right now don't have anywehre near the dough that countries have which buy those raw materials to produce finished goods."
That's because the countries with much sought-after natural riches are gangrened with corruption and spend all their money in civil wars...
Ever wondered why people sick with cancer or auto-immune diseases literally waste away in a matter of weeks or months? That's because their body is literally getting exhausted to the max from fighting itself. No matter how well-fed you are, that's always a losing situation.
In other words: your remarks are very true, Anon, but needed some perspective to fulfill their relevance.
"Watch out for China, developing, and has raw."
Worth watching, indeed. But they need to be careful, for they too are overly relying on a worldwide economy based on virtual forces like the consumption of futile goods which China produces.
If this driving force drops suddenly, China is in for a lot of trouble. They've already gotten too used to "livin' the good life". Translate: to having and spending big money.
Look at their skyrocketing urban pollution fron coal power plants and millions of new cars on the roads.
"It's easy to say that a reasonable and sensible person wouldn't get into her mess but a reasonable and sensible person wouldn't get hired to do what she does."
Sounds right, but why?
One word: Dali.
In more words: genius and madness are often like siamese twins. You can practically EXPECT somebody like Michael Jackson to behave with markedly unreasonable excentricity.
Ah, these celebrity types!
You said it, TC.
To attain special success, you need to be unusual yourself. Thinking differently from everybody else often means losing some of their useful mind habits as well.
"Somewhat off topic, but when and why did manic-depressive become bi-polar?"
Someone rang the Doc? ;-)
Manic is extremely stimulated, active, "positive" mood. Depressive is the "negative" extreme, the exact opposite. It's bi-polar, because it's like someone constantly commuting between the North and South Poles.
Or, if you like, between North Pole and the Equator. (But it makes the metaphor lose some of its pizzazz.)
There are similar "polarity" terms in schizophrenia symptoms: delirium, agitation, free-wheeling thought processes, aggressive behavior, are "positive" elements, meaning dynamic, active. Prostration, catatonia, loss of emotions... are "negative". Dynamism vs apathy.
It's like heat and cold. Two extremes. Bi-polar.
Interestingly, in Lebanon there exists this weird entity, where you can witness patients displaying only mania. While in the rest of the world, it's either bi-polar, or maelancholia, i.e. psychotic depression. You can probably find something about it by searching the name of Dr Charles Baddoura, he published an article about this.
Yup, in Lebanon we never do anything quite like the rest of the world. Those nawar. ;-)
"A group wants to control the discussion about manic-depression, and so they change the name."
Typical.
In fact, I see this all the time, on this very blog. ;o)
My verif : "whine"!
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