IF YOU GO
What: “An evening with Annie Leibovitz”
Where: Hendricks Chapel
When: Today, 7:30 p.m.
How much: Free
Since Annie Leibovitz’s Thursday lecture was announced a month ago, Esther Gray has received calls from across the country about the event.

“I’ve even been contacted by somebody — I don’t even know where she is — flying into here to see it,” said Gray, special assistant of academic affairs at Syracuse University. “I’ve had people from Buffalo and Albany and places far away contact me and say, ‘I’ve heard. I’ve had someone call me this morning.’ That kind of publicity you can’t buy.”

Leibovitz, a renowned photographer known for her work in Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, will be presenting and talking about her work during this year’s end of the University Lecture series in Hendricks Chapel.

Leibovitz began her career in 1970 working as a staff photographer for Rolling Stone. In 1973, she became the chief photographer for the magazine, a position she would hold for 10 years. During her tenure, she took many notable and historic photographs, including the 1980 Rolling Stone cover of John Lennon curling up against Yoko Ono that was taken hours before he was murdered.

In 2008 Leibovitz stirred controversy by publishing nearly nude portraits of a 15-year-old Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair.

Leibovitz will present photographs from throughout her career and talk about topics ranging from process to composition to history.

“She’s very laid-back from what I’m told,” Gray said.

Gray said the lecture is expected to draw hundreds of people. Those who want to attend should arrive at least a half-hour early to ensure entry. But because the lecture is open to the public, Gray said members of the community might arrive as early as an hour and 15 minutes before the lecture starts, as they did with the last University Lecture with Irish poet Seamus Heaney.

To present Leibovitz’s work, the university had to acquire a special screen, projector and other equipment Leibovitz frequently uses. Acquiring and paying for the special equipment did not prove to be an issue, Gray said.

Emelia Natalicchio, a sophomore fashion design major, said Leibovitz has a broad appeal outside of photography students. Design majors like herself enjoy Leibovitz’s portrait photography for its technique and her influence in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone.

“How she sets up the image, everything always tells a story, and it always catches your eye,” Natalicchio said. “It’s something that you want to look at.”

Natalicchio made a Facebook event for the lecture shortly after she heard about it and invited 40 of her friends. By the next day, 200 SU students responded to say they would see Leibovitz’s presentation.

Natalicchio hopes Leibovitz will talk about her process and wants to get an understanding of what it is like to be on set with her, she said.

Natalicchio said she also hopes Leibovitz will delve into explaining her recent financial woes. Leibovitz borrowed $15.5 million from a lending firm called Art Capital Group and put up her entire body of work as collateral in order to pay off mortgages and other financial issues, The New York Times reported in February.

Though Gray said it is highly unlikely Leibovitz will touch on a personal issue such as finances, Natalicchio said she knows students will ask about the subject regardless.

“I can’t imagine wanting to talk about that in front of an audience,” Gray said.

Gray said she hopes Leibovitz’s lecture will do what she hopes all University Lectures do: enlighten students and give them something to think about.

“Something to advance their knowledge and their understanding of things,” Gray said. “Enjoyment. Just enjoyment.”

 

Published on April 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm