Annie Leibovitz spent her childhood and youth in different states of the USA. During this time she experienced her first significant encounter with photography by way of her family's photo albums. Her earliest role models among prominent photographers were Henri Cartier-Bresson and Jacques-Henri Lartigue. In 1970 Annie Leibovitz began her studies of fine arts and photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. In the same year she submitted a portfolio to the art director of
Rolling Stone magazine, Robert Ingsbury, and scored her first success. Jann Wenner, publisher of the magazine, took the young photographer with him to New York, where she was to take pictures during an interview with John Lennon. Within one month her Lennon portraits were published on the cover of
Rolling Stone. In 1973 Annie Leibovitz became chief photographer of this magazine until she switched to
Vanity Fair in 1983.
