The Way in Which Each Sees the Other Confirms His Own View of Himself

Approaching portrait photography essentially makes me feel like this photograph. Or should I say, that attempting to portrait as a photographer makes me feel as though I were hanging at Annie Leibovitz's feet in this photograph above the many skyscrapers in New York City, New York. If only I could expand the sensation of flight as I begin shooting my subjects, inquiring about their days, touching their hands and moving their arms and legs around so that the lighting lies upon their clothing ever so delicately.

And I may ask myself: what about taking a photograph makes me feel as if I were inside another? It's simple. To lead in developing a specific moment of place and time, which has been the absolute end of photography, may also be found in the overwhelming vertigo that I may absorb as I peer over the edge of a gargoyle stone, realizing the effects of height and heft. And pull. Thrust may be more like it, but whichever be be truest, I understand that the relationship between subject and artist is a myriad of complexities. Dependent upon my intention, the shoot may be directed towards a moment of solemnity, though it need not be specifically that. If I were to photograph for fashion, art, expression, impression, or even competition, the shoot would much feel like the photograph generated. It is an act. Nearly a tightrope act, which would help suspend the drama in the photograph pictured above. Here in lies the spectacle of my metaphor: what is the intention of the photograph picturing Annie Leibovitz atop the Chrysler building in New York City, New York? Does John Loengard present a behind-the-lens portrait of a photographer so willing to achieve a shot that she'll climb one of the tallest buildings in all of New York? Where are the implications of that message? And what does it suggest for all photographers as a whole? And why Annie Leibovitz?

Here, Loengard blends the line between artistic portrait photography and documentary photography by including Annie Leibovitz taking part in the work that she presumably not only loves, but lives from. One of the ultimate portrait photographs, one does not get much more unconventional than this, yet conventionality is another argument altogether.