MasterClass provides in-depth and engaging classes taught by experts in various fields. The classes are designed to bring your favorite experts to your home in an engaging online experience, which includes state of the art pre-recorded videos, workbooks, and stimulating assignments. Your yearly Annual Membership gives you access to 85+ world-renowned instructors on Film and TV, Culinary Arts, Design, Photography, Fashion, Sports, Science and Technology and so much more. Instructors include world-famous chef Gordon Ramsay, bestselling author Margaret Atwood and many more. The classes have about 20 lectures, each about 10 minutes so you can watch and re-watch at anytime. Video lessons can easily be watched on the MasterClass mobile app, on your desktop, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku devices. Check out our MasterClass review to find out more details!
When you join MasterClass, you’ll subscribe to the yearly Annual Membership ($180). With this, you can take any class you want at any time, and your access continues until you cancel.
This is a review of the Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography course!
The MasterClass Instructor – Annie Leibovitz
This class opens with a powerful introduction to Annie Leibovitz’s work and her philosophy about portrait photography. Her introduction displays many of her breathtaking photographs, which display Annie Leibovitz’s vision and expertise. I was not sure what to expect when taking this course, but this class provided insights to how calculated but also spontaneous portrait photography can be. For those who are not familiar with Annie Leibovitz, she is an American portrait photographer who is best known for her intimate photographs, which often depict famous celebrities. She was also declared a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.
Annie began working as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone in 1970, while she was still a student at the San Francisco Art Institute. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973. Ten years later, when she joined the staff of the revived Vanity Fair, she began developing a large body of work that expanded her collective portrait of contemporary life. In addition to her editorial work at Vanity Fair and Vogue, she created influential advertising campaigns. Several collections of her work have been published and exhibitions of her photographs have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world. She is the recipient of many honors, including the International Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the first Creative Excellence Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society in London, the Wexner Prize, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.
Annie Leibovitz designed this course to guide aspiring photographers on how to embrace your surroundings, the natural light, and how to use what you have to create the best photograph. She also uses this class to share her experiences with working with subjects, lighting, editing, and even includes case studies where we get a first hand view of how she conducts a photo shoot.
Photography – Who is it for? 
This class is for people who are looking to bring their photography skills to the next level. The class is most beneficial for people have some photography experience. Whether this is professional experience or exploring photography as a hobby, this class is valuable because viewers learn by exploring Annie Leibovitz’s own methodology and learn through her own experiences.
MasterClass Annie Leibovitz – Main Themes
- “Capturing” the Person
- Simplicity
- Inspiration
- Storytelling
MasterClass Workbook – Annie Leibovitz
The workbook for this class is a great reference tool. If you are looking to strengthen your photography skills, this workbook provides a great outline of each lesson that you can always look back on. The workbook also has the assignments which are outlined in the videos. Along with the reviews of the lessons, the workbook contains all of the photographs Annie Leibovitz displays in the pre-recorded lessons.
MasterClass Photography Takeaways
Annie Leibovitz has created a wonderful MasterClass that really challenges the viewers to explore different aspects of portrait photography. Through a combination of her own personal stories about how her photographs were created and assignments, the class outlines how to approach, stage, and edit your photographs.
When you’re a photographer, you see and you can’t stop seeing.
One thing that I really enjoyed in this class was Annie Leibovitz’s use of her interactions with a group of students to explore different ideas. Some of the conversations touch on ethics regarding objectivity, some lessons included the students asking Annie questions, and one even explores the students individual work. This approach to teaching brings a new and engaging way for Annie to get her point across, while also adding new perspectives to the class. This class is for those who wish to pursue photography, as a pass time or professionally. She really plays on the idea that you do not need fancy technology to take stunning photographs. Annie Leibovitz talks about how she has used many different cameras and they all come with different challenges, but what really makes a photograph is what is in the picture and how you capture your subject.
Your picture depends on what is in it, which has nothing to do with technology. That is the last thing you should worry about.
Final thoughts on Annie Leibovitz’s MasterClass
I found this class extremely intriguing and challenging! Annie Leibovitz has created a class that not only gives great advice on taking portrait pictures, but challenges viewers to explore outside of their comfort zone and try something new. If you are interested in improving your portrait photography skills through the use of understanding light, how to work with subjects, and how to edit your own work, this is the class for you!
What do you think of this MasterClass?
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