Women

Women by Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag

Although this book is about women it goes much further than this single subject for me. It shows how a collection of often dramatic photographs can be compiled into something quite profound and with greater meaning than any single photograph within the collection. Of course the quality of Annie Leibovitz’s portraits is among the best and this is the main reason for this book being so great. However, if the same quality can be applied to other subjects in a such a diverse and sometimes dramatic style, then they will also form something worth looking at and understanding.

Sontag, in her true fashion hits the mark in a most original way as a foreword essay. “Each of these pictures must stand on its own. But the ensemble say, so this is what women are now…”

This statement rang out to me and I wished that I had seen this book at the beginning of the course. Each picture must stand on its own and as the ensemble must show the greater meaning. This is what needs to be remembered when putting together a portfolio or even a small set of photographs. I’d say this even applies if the intention is only to show a set made up of completely different topics.