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Annie Leibovitz has set the file straight about one of the talked-about moments in her profession; her 2007 photoshoot with Queen Elizabeth II that the BBC famously misrepresented, and later apologized for.
The controversy erupted when the BBC confirmed documentary footage in 2007 that appeared to point out the Queen strolling out of the shoot after the legendary America photographer requested her to take away her crown to look “less dressy”. The clip confirmed Her Majesty responding sharply earlier than apparently leaving in frustration, saying: “I’m not changing anything. I’ve done enough dressing like this, thank you very much.” However, a subsequent BBC investigation revealed that the footage had been edited out of chronological order.
“She was storming into the shoot!” Leibovitz stressed in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on January 17. “She wasn’t storming out; she never stormed out of the shoot. She came down the hallway saying, ‘This is the last time I do this. These things weigh 75 pounds. I’m not doing this anymore.'”
Change of atmosphere
Apparently, the Queen’s irritation stemmed from wearing heavy robes and the lengthy time it took to dress. But once she arrived at the shoot, the atmosphere changed completely. “She walked into the shoot, and I showed her some pictures of the park I shot in the back, and other things I had done, and what I’d like to do with her,” Leibovitz said. “And she just sort of settled down. And then we had a regular [shoot], you know?”
The photographer went on to reveal her creative approach to the challenging half-hour session, during which she needed to capture four distinct portraits of the British monarch. Her strategy was to “peel off the cape and then shoot her in the dress”, working efficiently within the tight timeframe.
When Leibovitz suggested removing the crown for some shots—explaining it would look better “less dressy”—she received a characteristically sharp response. But the photographer wasn’t phased in the slightest. “I loved her,” she said. “It was like she’d totally settled down. She took the crown off, put it back on, took it off, put it back on. And then she stayed the entire half hour, if not more. And she did not stop till I said, ‘Thank you very much.'”
Use of natural light
The shoot, in the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, saw Leibovitz work with natural light through the palace’s massive windows and doors. She described drawing inspiration from Cecil Beaton’s palace photography; though the Queen herself advised her: “You must find your own way.”
One of the resulting portraits shows a composition reminiscent of the 17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, with the Queen positioned alongside a window with natural light streaming from the right, revealing the scale of the palace room and a huge door leading to another chamber. “I wanted to feel like the age of the palace,” Leibovitz explained. “I wanted you to feel natural light; that those big, big windows and doors were there because they didn’t have electricity to begin with, and light came in.”
The way the commission came about is itself instructive. Leibovitz had initially requested to photograph the Queen in 1999 for a project on women, but received no response. Ten years later, Buckingham Palace contacted her. When she asked why they’d chosen her, a palace official replied simply: “Well, you asked.”
Leibovitz laughed: “I like to tell this story to young photographers, because I don’t want them ever to give up. You asked, and they kept it on file”.
Leibovitz, now 76, told interviewer John Wilson on the episode of This Cultural Life that she nonetheless will get “a thrill” from taking images and stays dedicated to portrait images. “I’m going to stay in this to the bitter, bitter end,” she stated. “It’s not even bitter. I’m just so lucky. I love what I do.”
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