Award-winning photographer Annie Leibovitz was on vacation and began snapping photos of Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst, Massachusetts. Then after, she went on vacation with her kids to Niagara Falls. Thus began her photo book “Pilgrimage”.
Her book is different for her style as she usually photographs portraits with Hi-Tech cameras. But the entire book is of iconic landmarks and all photos are taken with a simple digital camera.
One of the most heart-touching and stoic photos that stand out amongst the rest is her photo of Elvis Presley’s Graceland. It is taken at dusk; all the lights are off in the mansion except in Elvis Presley’s bedroom. The image invokes a sense of the King’s spirit up in those windows, looking down, letting you know he is home. It sends shivers down one’s spine.
She also visited Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi. His Harley Davidson, his turntable, his mother’s dresses in a closet, Minnie Mae’s sunglasses on a tray, and the stairs leading up to the private quarters at Graceland Meditation Garden.
It’s a stylized piece of work, and seeing these favorite tourist spots through the eyes of Annie Leibovitz invokes deep emotions and memories for its viewers.
Pilgrimage also spotlights many other talismans and objects of notable people including: Georgia O’Keeffe, Eleanor Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, Old Faithful and Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty; Photographing things like inside homes, bedrooms, closets, articles of clothing, landscapes, etc.
For more information on “Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage” go to Random House Publishing.
Graceland Photo Memphis, TN (c) Annie Leibovitz and Random House.
