<![CDATA[Photo Finish - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Um. Zhang Ziyi looks NOTHING like Lucy Liu. There is more than a decade age difference between them and their faces are not even close...

sugartitties

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> haha, is it horrible that when I look at this I think of Prom Pictures?

The posing all seem so typical - ie. Dull.

For a good example, for my senior prom 19 of us decided to go "together" without dates (there were some couples but it was a casual group). And we all HAD to have our pictures taken together. The poor photographer, he said he had to use EVERY SINGLE pose set up he knew, most of which are echoed here (except for SJP, girl, what the hell are you doing?). It was pretty damn awesome.

And I would pay to do it all again.

Sukie in the Graveyard

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> it could be that in hollywood caucasian actors make more money & are more famous than 'ethnic' actors. because vogue wants to make more money they want more famous people on the cover. so maybe it's not a hidden racist intent on annie's part? i don't know.

erinlynne

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Sophie: i just listened to annie speak at sfai (san francisco art institute) & her reason as to way she does not explicitly ask people to smile when taking their photograph is because as a child (& adult) was told to 'smile for the camera' & felt that when told to smile it was forced & fake & she wants her picture to portray the subject's personality....

erinlynne

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> We even see it on this years VF cover. They have Raven Simone on the inside flap.

[defamer.com]

mstreds

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I wanna see comments!

redheadedstepchild

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Rummy_McGin: Not dead center. Dead center isn't as good as placed at an intersection of 3rds. Compositionally emphasized, not centered.

redheadedstepchild

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I'd also comment on cover vs photograph composition.

While the cover third isn't great, some of the arrangements (2008 and 2003) have "people of color" in very prominent places, composition wise. Close your eyes, open em and try and figure out where your vision ends up.

redheadedstepchild

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Okay I always here people say black or minority models/actresses on the cover of these magazines dont sell well (and i understand since from the very begining they cater to only caucasion) but dont they make up some of those sales from blacks or minorities buying their mags after seeing "oh, here is alisha keys or beyonce on the cover of VF i'll buy this issue" Does anyone have a real % of or a link to somethings that shows profits are that bottom low?

MsMichelle

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> why the annie bashing?! if you look at the overall compositions actually more often than not it is the people of colour who are dead centre. no?

Rummy_McGin

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> This is nauseating. So obvious and so... racist.

bria

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> If only Richard Avedon was still alive... Damn.

aprilsimnel

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Oh, and here's a thought, AL, how about putting a person of color on the very far left, just once. It'll be you're one adventurous thing for a day, or year.

Jaguares

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I look at Class of 2000 and totally do a HAHA, a la Nelson Muntz. (Except for Penelope Cruz, of course, who shouldn't even be there since she was huge in Spain already.)

Jaguares

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @rocknrollunicorn: I don't care if it's a cheesy pose, Hugh Grant still looks goooood in that pic. Then again, I've had a crush on him since 4 Weddings...or rather, my crush is on 1994 Hugh Grant. Ewan, despite the little Napoleon hand-in-jacket pose, is giving him a run for his money.

That said, Annie Liebovitz needs to retire, I think.

cautionarywhale

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @pushkin: You make a good point.

Djimon Honsu, Thandie Newton and Chris Rock all made the cover part of the fold.

VF has the final say over what picture becomes a cover.

There are enough examples of blatant racism in America that we don't need to be reading them into things that are most likely unintentional.

Vanity Fair is really bad at these kind of covers.

stoprobbers

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Ellen Page looks sooooo uncomfortable and awkward all dressed up.

TurtleFace

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I doubt their ordering by race is statistically significant.

Annie is ridiculously talented, but she's jumped the shark. The Hollywood As Fairy Tale schtick is soooo old. Do something new, damnit!

ppiddy

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Minnie Driver looks very unconfortable in that pose and the girl on the far left in the last one looks like she's taking a dump.

mepo

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Beautiful people lounging about with bored looks on their faces...It never get old...

Fauxhemian

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @PoisonPixie: I think you might be right. I seem to remember reading that some of these were shot in sections, but have no hard proof to back up my claims.

That 1995 shot is so awkward. yeesh.

Also, Rosario Dawson remains the most beautiful woman in the woooooorld.

huffyb

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I think Annie is vastly overrated...and (sadly) very consumer savy. Is it possible that each star was photographed alone and these are composite pics a la Top Model? That way, no one complains about being smushed to the left or right in a photoshoot.

PoisonPixie

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> by 'lucy liu' you mean 'zhang ziyi'... for all your 'casual racism' rants, you seem to so easily swap one asian for another. jezebel has lost a lot of cred.

pistachiostreet

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @pushkin: Seconded.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> The selection on the Jezebel site is particularly misleading, since it only includes covers that support the claim and leaves out the ones that violate it. You can't just cite facts that support your theory and ignore the ones that contradict it. (Unless you're running for office.)

One would also have to consider whether the array of people accurately reflects Hollywood's judgments of the relative power and prominence of these people. It could be Hollywood that puts people of color inside the fold, so to speak, not Liebowitz.

not that I want to defend her trite pictures.

pushkin

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> the general pattern may be there, but you've exaggerated it by leaving out the people of color who DID appear on the cover third. Of which I see several.

pushkin

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @theloudcorral: I miss Herb Ritz...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @pumpkinsoup: Cruel Intentions is really the only thing that comes to mind.

According to IMDB, though, her first gig was on an episode of Pete & Pete which makes me smile a lot.

laurasaurus

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Suggestion Diabolique: Third from the right, with her old nose.

LipstickLibrarian

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> dear 1996,

there's a party in my pants.

goodnight.

museormyth

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Scoithniamh: I'm with you on partially blaming VF. I have Annie's collection book, "Women" and it's full of women of every shape, size and color. She really is an artist.

Conde Nast, on the other hand...

peliroja

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> How did Brittany Murphy ever make it onto one of these and look how gorgeous Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellwegger were before they started messing with their faces.

Trixie from Toronto

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @pumpkinsoup: wow, am i THAT celebrity obsessed or just eons older that i know who these peeps are?

overheard at an leibovitz shoot: "no smiling! is that a smile??!! STOP SMILING! now, look gaunt. MORE GAUNT! WHO FARTED??!! STOP SMILING!!"

littlekicks

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @sonofabiscuit: yes, yes indeed. i think we can skip the whole racist thing, since we know vanity fair is mostly for white people anyway (aaaaaaand racial biases still exist. there, i said it!). but please, oh please, let's talk about what an unoriginal photographer annie leibovitz??!! while her execution is flawless (or is it, in fact, the airbrushing?), her ideas just suck. balls. HARD.

littlekicks

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Yeah, this is gross. I was a big lover of this mag throughout my teens and, as a Brown girl, am thankful that I survived with self esteem relatively intact. I am pretty bitter about shit like this, though.

ObtuseIntolerant

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> It's not because they're black, it's just that they're less famous and/or beloved! ... oh, wait...

honkytonk

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> You're JUST noticing this?

Check out every hair story in the world, also, which always starts with blond and straight, goes to wavy, then to frizzy, and ends with black girls ("textured", apparently).

By the way, this is even WORSE, because they don't shoot these in one sitting; they shoot separately and mesh. They could put anyone almost ANYWHERE.

Entonces is ironing your dumb ass

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> this issue is *exactly* why i cancelled my subscription to vanity fair in 1999...i complained to their editorial board about their shameful record so far as "people-of-color covers" are concerned, and ended it.

i am a person of lily-whiteness and am nevertheless *deeply offended* by Vanity Fair's exclusionary covers.

*sigh*

9 years later, and it's the same ol' bulls**t!

:(

sparkly1

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> well this is no surprise since Vanity fair has always been a magazine geared towards "white America". When Beyonce was on the cover years ago my mother (a woman of color) almost had a heart attack (out of pure and total shock).

watereatsrock

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> apart from the subject in hand did anyone notice how much more normal everyone looks in 1995? Uma's legs look amazing! but would have been majorly airbrushed if that picture had been taken 10 years later!

nothanks

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> This has been a complaint of mine every year when this Hollywood issue comes out. For a magazine that is so far to the left this sort of bias is so hypercritical.

dcetstyle

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I'm sure that AL has some decision/say in how all those folks get posed. There's no way that she would just mindlessly take the shot. Hell, I'm a totally unfamous photographer and I get to give direction to my clients.

Finstergirl

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> How DOES she get that flawless undead finish on the skin of even the warm brown people? How I wish I knew her vampiric secret...

pot_kettle

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Is it just me or does Dennis Quaid look particularly hot in that 2003 shot? So rugged and manly...!

And I'm sorry, but what the fuck is up with Sarah Jessica Parker in 1995?! The weird, stunned expression! That hideous skirt! And that bra! (On an aside, on me, that would totally slide down and be a belt in no time. I hate that.)

thatlush

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @bess marvin, girl detective: At least I know who Jessica Beil and Kate Beckinsale are (she's Posh's new BFF). And Skeet was in Scream, right?

But I don't know who the fuck some of these people are: Norman Reedus... Anna Friel... Rufus Sewell... Alison Elliott... Johnathon Schaech? huh?

And there's the 2000 cover that's a total head-scratcher. Except for Penelope Cruz, who are these people? Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Marley Shelton, Chris Klein, Selma Blair, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Sarah Wynter. (okay, Wes was in American Beauty and Klein and Suvari were in American Pie, but WTF?)

And how does Selma Blair rate two covers. You know, I couldn't even name a movie she's been in. I only know pf her because occasionally shows up at fashion shows.

pumpkinsoup

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> i refer to these "hype" covers as the gallery of broken promises and shattered dreams. if you look back the past 10 years, so many actors are undeserving of the hype. instead, i'd rather a spread of all the overzealous publicists who got their nondeserving clients on a spread:(here's looking at you jessica biel, kate beckinsale, skeet ulrich)

bess marvin, girl detective

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> 1998 and 1999 both have non-white celebrities on the covers.

Not that that justifies the fashion industry's racism at all, but it makes Annie and even Vanity Fair look a LITTLE less overt.

LaFemme

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Does Jezebel even know that AL selects the subjects? Isn't that partly/exclusively an editorial decision?

Seeräuber Jenny

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Hmmm...I'm not seeing J-Lo in the 1997 spread.

Suggestion Diabolique

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @ceejeemcbeegee (AKA!):

I agree, I don't think this is all AL's fault. Besides, some of those shoots are logistically very complex, taking place in three different locations with the same backdrop, the shots later being combined. (Or am I thinking about Vogue?)

Epps is in a 1999 spread in the linked-to site, looking incredibly young.

I'm more concerned that older women are so on the margins they're not even in the photographs. Compare the first all-male spread.

Seeräuber Jenny

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Mmm... Benny... I love me some Benicio Del Toro. Is it wrong that I find him sexy no matter what, even in Fear & Loathing?

wednesdayam

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Shit, I'm a Quaid fan, and there's Dennis pushed off on the right. At least, I think it's him.

ImNoJuneCleaver

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @lisas: @I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby: @Dodai: I'm really sorry, that was a total misfire. I'm super mad with someone else not in Internetland for a similar reason and lost my brains.

lisas

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Nobody puts Matt Damon in the corner!

valleyqueen

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> LOL @ Leo circa 1996, with his pajama shirt billowing in the wind.

That_little_attention_whore

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @boobaloob: I didn't know it was her either -- haha had to look at the link.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @lisas: click the link and you'll see Lucy Liu. I didn't pull *all* of the shots.

Dodai

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @sjct: @Banana Grabber: yeah, I just looked through the "retrospective" linked above as well, and while it is not overwhelmingly diverse, it IS better than the selectively pulled images above. Not making generalizations about the state of race in America; just saying Annie should probably get a little less of the vitriol.

magiciannamedgob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @rocknrollunicorn: Ah, thanks -- I know who JJL is, but I could not for the life of me tell it was her.

I just checked out IMDB, and What's Love Got To Do With It is from 1993! Also, she played Malcolm X's wife in 1992, and the year that cover came out was the same year that Waiting To Exhale came out.

boobaloob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @lisas: Look at the post at ONTD. There is a cover where Lucy Liu is shoved off to the right.

I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Im pretty sure the editors decide who's going on the cover, not Annie.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Zhang Ziyi looks nothing like Lucy Liu. It's not like Hollywood is crawling with Asian actresses, is it that hard to tell them apart?

Also, from the POV of the photographer, is the cover the prime spot? Isn't the cover usually coated in text? I'm not being rhetorical here, this is an honest question.

lisas

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @daftpunkisplayingatMYhouse: Thank for your research. I think it's easy to select and arrange photos, comments, opinions or any other bite from someone's life and make them look bad.

Also, the size of the photos above diminishes their effect. In full-size,you open a VF fold-out,each and every person in the arrangement looks special and interesting.

sjct

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Oh man I forgot just how MUCH i want to sex up Fairuza Balk. I miss her :-(

dirtybee says bee yourself!

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I'm sorry guys I just-don't-see-it. I didn't see it in the Lebron photo and I don't see it here. Look at these pictures as a whole not as a three segment piece and it's obvious that a lot of the time the people of color are front and center where your eyes first get drawn.
2008- Zoe Saldana- in the middle
2005- Rosario Dawsona nd Ziyi Zhang
2003- Don Cheadle and Sam Jackson

librariesare4lovers

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @boobaloob: Jennifer Jason Leigh -- I mean she's pretty famous, I would say. Though if that is the year What's Love Got to Do With It came out, Angela should have the front flap.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> it hardly seems fair to fault her for "pushing" the non-white people to the side when they are so massively outnumbered by the white people (excuse my politically incorrect terms). that seems like more of a problem to me--would it be impossible to do a group portrait without a supermajority of traditional hollywood blonde waifs? if vanity fair selected a less homogeneous set of models this wouldn't be a problem.

adjectives

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @sallyfloyd: They might just be less photoshopped, because they are all quite thin. I will say that they look more "alive" in the earlier years, though, instead of falling down in various stages of ennui/white pancake makeup.

magiciannamedgob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I think it's the magazine industry that's to blame.

Yes, Annie has allied herself with the industry, but her work goes beyond the magazine and Disney work that she does for a good paycheck. If you've ever seen more of her non-celebrity photos, you would understand what a gifted artist she is.

I don't think she's a racist, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

sympathyforthedevil

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Haha Leonardo DiCaprio. That's all I have.

Branza

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Scoithniamh:

yeah i think its 50/50 too, she would have been told who the magazine want on the cover, and the photographer has to comply with what the mag wants, sucks, but thats the way it goes...

silverbird

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> If you go to the ONTD page, though, you'll find that of the 13 photos that include people of color, 4 of them have someone of color on the far left/cover. So, isn't that about right? Purely randomly, statistically speaking?

Banana Grabber

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @bisesnyc:Exactly! I spent 5 minute looking for Lucy Liu, and she's not there.

catness

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @wordinedgewise: I see that, too.

Will Smith, J. Lo, etc. - they weren't big yet when these photos were shot.

Miss Smith Drank Your Vodka

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @mipsy6: Perhaps she had a cupping session that day.

Miss Smith Drank Your Vodka

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Ok, somehow that comment I was referring to in my last post is there again? Wierd...

boobaloob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Is it just me or do the actresses in the 1995 or 1997 shots look less emaciated than the ones from, say, 2002 on up?

sallyfloyd

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Ok, now where did that comment go about the people on the cover being more famous than the colored folk on the back of the flap? It got deleted by the TPTB, I guess? In any case, I have no idea who that chick is crouching on the ground like a frog on the 1995 cover, but I have a hard time believing that she's more famous than angela bassett.

boobaloob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @JessicaLovejoy: More business juice, please!: I'll see your Hugh Grant and raise you a Matthew McConneghy (sp?)/Stephen Dorff combo.

These pictures will provide hours of laughs.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Well if you want to feel better about the race thing, you can just take a look at Minnie Driver's desperate expression in 1997. I love Minnie but that is awful. Of course I'm sure she fell victim to some kind of "well, the OTHER women in the frame look good" asshattery.

Also, why does Gwyneth get to wear a dress when everyone else has to wear lingerie?

These pictures are eternally amusing, though obviously disappointing.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> [www.andrewsmithgallery.com]

[www3.thestar.com]

[dashus.typepad.com]

to play devil's advocate just a teensy bit...she has taken quite a few pictures of African Americans, and she did that whole V.F. Africa issue. Personally the images above are really damning; but after a quick google image...I'm not sure about blatant, hardcore racism inherent in her person.

magiciannamedgob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I believe that VF typically places the A-listers on the front flap, but the comparsion of these photos does say something. But in all fairness, we can only speculate until Annie or the VF editors explain themselves. I miss the Annie of the 70's and 80's (my favorites are an exhausted-looking John Lennon and her wild-ass photo of Keith Haring at work).

Cam/ron

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @theloudcorral:
yeah, but why do you think nobody ever lets them get to be the "bigger" stars?


vamvaki_poulaki

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> couldn't it also be argued that she purposely put the more famous people in the left side of the frame knowing they would make the cover, which would really just be proof of hollywood's inherent racism?

wordinedgewise

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Lola del Rio:I have been at work for 10 hours. I am very tired, and seriously over self-important white women today.

Makes it impossible for me to understand a lot of shit.

Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Did she also do the picture of the WB starlets? This had to be back in like 99 I think. But it had the girls from Buffy and Charmed. And they were nymph-like.

The HZA

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> also, i am no photography expert, but to be completely honest, there is an over saturation of annie portraits in magazines these days. alright, we get it she is great! now give someone else a chance to do something a little different!

theloudcorral

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Wow. Hard to deny.

I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> i thought that the people that were behind the flap, because they weren't huge celebrities? but now i see what you guys mean. all this depresses me.

theloudcorral

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I'm willing to assign more of the blame to Vanity Fair- or at least 50/50. Magazines in this country sell fewer copies when there is a black (or maybe nonwhite) face on the cover. I believe that either Vanity Fair communicated that message with a "suggestion" to Annie or, more likely, Annie knows that shit already because she's been around for a hundred years shooting bored naked white women with tousled hair for self-important rags.

Annie, I am over you.

Scoithniamh

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Yo, I don't think that's Lucy Liu, I think that's Ziyi Zhang (the 2005 pic, right?) Love the 1995 spread

bisesnyc

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Also, this makes me feel so young because I have no idea who some of the people are in the 1995, 1996, and 1997. Yay, because I was just having an existential crisis relating to getting old. So, silver lining?

magiciannamedgob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @laurasaurus: Actually, the progression of light to slightly darker is true for 2008, 2005, 2003 and 2001. Weird.

laurasaurus

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Far too homogeneous -- does it take that much creativity to make them all very different? And I wonder if she put them there or she was subtly asked to put them there?

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> All I kept thinking was, "Holy Gwyneth Paltrow, Batman!" She was on almost every women's cover.

Once I got past that, it's really horrible how obvious that is once you look at them all lined up (it's even worse when you click on the ONTD link). This plus the Giselle/Lebron scandal make Annie look pretty bad.

amandahugnkiss

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Wow. I was one of the people who didn't quite see the racism in the LeBron photo...but after this? Annie, you've got some splainin to do. Stat.

magiciannamedgob

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> It's also strange that in the latest one, the left hand side of the picture as a whole is whiter than the right - in terms of skin tone, background, and presumably lighting.

Also, Minnie Driver looks incredibly awkward, which could be due to the awkward use of the photo's frame cutting off her legs.

laurasaurus

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @JessicaLovejoy: More business juice, please!: I love it because it makes the whole shot look sort of like a camp photo, or something, except with movie stars(!)

Neorah

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Philthyist is annoyed:

sorry if my read-between-my-lines approach didn't reach you... this should have been my statement about the piece... ahem...

NO DUH!

Lola del Rio

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @mipsy6: That always bothered me. It's inconsistent with the rest, although, I like how Sandra Bullock is the only one barefoot, so.....why am I still posting? I need to work!!

*Back in 5 minutes. Oh, who am I kidding, I am totally refreshing.

nolongerinacubiclestillawhore

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Eww, who told Hugh Grant to do that pose? Yikes!

JessicaLovejoy: Wanton Trollop

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @ceejeemcbeegee (AKA!): That is exactly it.

Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> There's a gallery in Santa Fe which stocks a lot of Annie Leibovitz's work and though she may or may not have certain sensibilities (shoot the messenger, anyone), when you're walking down the street and when her photos come into view, you sort of have to give it to her because she's clearly an artist.

Of course, what always strikes me on my trips to that gallery is the $290,000 photo from Ansel Adams because I've always admired his work, but damn...

Magister

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Wow, I never noticed this. I also never saw these covers before right now, and you have to admit they are all interesting. Not only are people of color off to the right, theres only one or two of them in big ole groups of white actors/actresses. Weird.

Sunbunny

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Also notice the bitches don't get to wear much in the way of clothing but the dudes are always fully clothed.

Lizawithazee

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Kate Winslet looks fierce! I love her.

kierabs

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @ceejeemcbeegee (AKA!): I just clicked the link...

Wait Jez... Djimon's on the cover! Or is that because he's African and therefore, exotic?

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Sophie: Nah- she was like, bitch is shoving me in a corner- well lemme show her. I am going to OWN this shit. And its clear- she does.

Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Annie Leibovitz' best days are far behind her. Repetitive, dull and overrated.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> These are such a funny time capsule, though, both to remember what people looked like 10 years ago and who people were predicting to be "hot" who we never heard of again. Sarah Wynter? Fairuza Balk?

tell Dolly Parton again

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I can't help but think, at least with the first picture, it makes sense to have Zoe Saldana in the middle of the picture. Yes, it pushes her to inside flap, but when looking at the picture as a whole, she is the most striking figure and looks great as the centerpiece. Just saying.

TastyBites

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Lola del Rio:So her artistic vision is to shove all people of color to the far right?
You realize that she knows exactly how the cover will be laid out and is shooting the photograph to suit the cover.
Thats what they do.



Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Also, My uncle (RIP) used to collect the Hollywood Issue so now I have to buy it even though I already know the women/men of color will usually be displayed on the inside flap. It's fun to look back on issues and be like, "Hey, Fariuza Balk needs to be in something, like, now"

nolongerinacubiclestillawhore

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I can't fault Annie 100% for this... at least 20% is Vanity Fair's call. ;-)

And I like how Will kicks the class of '96s ass!

And... I spy no Omar Epps or Lucy Lui...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> On top of Elisabeth Hasselcrack this just makes me sad.
What a fucking racist country we live in.


Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> so does this make Annie a racist or just true to her "artistic" vision? this is not the first time this old horse has been hitched to the cart.

either way, i'm O-V-E-R it. where's terry richardson? 'cause if i have to hear about "sexualized teenagers" being "manipulated" for art, well, I want REAL sexualized exploitation.

Lola del Rio

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Dang, that is fairly damning.

Also, I like how in the last one, Gwyneth is the only one no in lingerie.

mipsy6

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @dotcomdork: I agree- Oh Bennie...

TheUptightMidwesterner

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Why was ONTD not this good when I was a member?

Also, why am i not surprised?

BiBiVirtue

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @sonofabiscuit: you read my mind. I was like "hmm... people lounging with a look of ennui, "artfully" arranged."

yawn.

Le Kangourou de Kataroo

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> All those spreads run together in my brain: Pretty people in classy clothes posing on different levels while staring at the camera with knowing looks.

Neorah

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> comments......grr.

nolongerinacubiclestillawhore

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @sonofabiscuit: Yeah, The Hollywood Issue always has sorta the same layout. I thought I saw somewhere else on the web a retrospective on all her covers for Vanity Fair. Off to research..er, I mean I guess I'll go back to working.

nolongerinacubiclestillawhore

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @SVreader: that's nice, but I like Leo in the 1996 one. Remember when he was a skinny adolescent? I like it (almost) as much as his current, muscle-y and dark, phase.

fantastic_caverns

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> @Sophie: now =not

Sophie

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Is Angela Bassett the only one who is visibly happy to be photographed? Does Annie ban smiles or is Hollywood just now that fun?

Sophie

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> At least Benicio is in the middle of that 1996 one. Where he should be.

dotcomdork

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I can't believe that she's not commenting on this shit. Everyone is up-in-arms about Miley, but this is so much worse. I'm waiting for an explanation, Annie.

fantastic_caverns

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> I totally had that 2003 spread hung up in my dorm room.

SVreader

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> You can also tell how prevalent it has become to airbrush people to the point of making them unrecognizable. That top photo looks like a bunch of uniformly colored, uncontoured, plastic dolls.

Scoregasm

]]> <![CDATA[Photo Finish]]> Is it just me, or did I just look at the same picture 7 times in a row?

sonofabiscuit is sprinkling greatness

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