Free People Blog

An outtake from the iconic shoot with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which took place hours before he was killed.

When it comes to role models, one of mine has always been Annie Leibovitz. She inspired me from a young age to study photography, and to this day her work sets a standard that few others can live up to. From her role as chief photographer for Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s, to touring photographer with the Rolling Stones, to her more recent fashion editorials, she has a gift for capturing people and history through her lens – some of the most iconic moments in music have been brought before our eyes because of her talent.

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Pilgrimage is a book of photos that are unlike her other work – they contain no people.  It began with a trip to Niagara falls with her daughters, and plans she had made with partner Susan Sontag, who has since passed. They had talked about making a book of all the places they wanted to go, and years later Leibovitz returned to the idea, and thus came Pilgrimage. The photos are of spaces, places, things – heavy with the ghosts of the legends who lived in and used them, like Virginia Woolf, Thoreau, Elvis, Georgia O’Keefe, and so on.

“I NEEDED to save myself,” she says of the work contained in the book. “I needed to remind myself of what I like to do, what I can do.”

Niagara Falls

Emily Dickinson’s only surviving dress

Virginia Woolf’s Bedroom

Elvis’s Television, in storage at Graceland (he shot it).

Georgia O’Keefe’s handmade pastels

Annie Oakley’s heart target.

You can also see the photos on exhibit right now at the Smithsonian Museum in DC!