Shutterbug Puts Celebrity Photography in Focus

I’ve always been a bit baffled and bemused by the lionization of celebrity photographers who, like all of us weekend shutterbugs, dumbly (OK, smartly) point that little mechanical eye at their subject and push the button. With all the hoopla, you’d think they had hand-painted those stark, shadowy images instead of merely adjusting the exposure on their high-tech Brownies, pointing and clicking. So, when I see a high-toned review of photographer doyenne Annie Leibovitz’s current show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (“Retrospective Examines a Photojournalist’s Art,” Nov. 21) and her anointment as a major chronicler of pop culture during the last two decades, I say--hey, so am I.

You should see the snapshots of my Uncle Izzie and Aunt Clara slurping tomato soup at their kitchen table back in 1971. And 10 years later, there’s the shot of my little second cousin, Zack, banging his pudgy fingers on my 1980 communications icon, the IBM Selectric. But the piece de resistance came in 1992 when I managed to capture a shot of my infant daughter Kelsey drooling a breast-milk epaulet on the shoulder of my wife’s black sweat shirt.

I’ll grant you, Leibovitz has snapped off a few good ones herself. That well-known shot of Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub full of moo juice was pretty riveting. And the one with John Lennon scrunched in fetal nudity next to Yoko--which, I gather, was his idea--got a lot of attention. The photographer also knows how to do those imperfection-glorifying, dermatological close-ups of famous faces--but my skin specialist could do as well. And, honestly, if you put me in the same room with the Rolling Stones, I could manage to capture a pout or sneer with the best of them.

So what, in fact, makes Leibovitz so special? According to the review, “she pushes the envelope just far enough to achieve density.” Whatever that means. To me, it’s more that she’s had incredible access all her professional life and made the most of it.

I know, I know. Leibovitz and other celebrity Nikonmeisters are masters of lighting, masters of mood. But isn’t that kinda what happens in those photo booths at the mall?

Finally, it’s not unusual for a professional photographer to use up a dozen rolls of film in a single shooting--that’s 432 shots of 36-exposure film!--to get one good photo. Think of it, 432 chances to get one of them to come out right. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think he or she, with a little practice and some decent sunshine, could do as well?

JERRY FISHER, Los Angeles