Annie, Get Your Gun!

That would be my advice to Annie Leibovitz this week as she’s getting beat up by the British press over the whole Queen photo debacle. If you have been, pardon the cliche, living under a rock, here’s the rub.

Annie Leibovitz was invited to take a portrait of the Queen at Buckingham Palace recently and was looking for the shot. She asked her majesty if she could dejewel–that is, take off the crown, for a less dressy look. Translated into photospeak: she just wanted more of a candid, real shot of the Queen, looking not so formal. After that incident it was reported that the Queen was a bit perturbed at American Annie and marched out of the session in a huff. That was later retracted by the BBC, who said she never actually left the room by was visibly annoyed and refused to take off the crown.

Whatever the truth, the British press would have you believe that Leibovitz asked the Queen to disrobe by the nasty coverage that ensued. Tabloid after tabloid made the photographer out to be some sort of scofflaw for asking such a forbidden question.

I mean, really. You’re telling me that the royal whatevers had no knowledge of the kind of work Annie does? As it is, I’m sure Leibovitz had to hold back from asking what she really wanted, because of manners and all, because the real photo would be a nude of the woman who has reigned for 56 years….Can you seen it? A blow-up on the cover of Vanity Fair of Queen E lounging on some royal piece of Buck furniture, drapped with an diamond-encrusted velvet throw with nothing but her birthday suit on. I mean, have we ever even see an elbow? But all Annie asked was to see the top of the Queen’s head.

I am rather appalled by the UK papers like the Telegraph, Evening Standard, Birmingham Evening Mail and Daily Mail. Those “publications” decided they would challenge Annie’s talent and the premise of photography as art, as a result of the visit. I thought the articles were really shallow and narrow-minded and displayed the writers’ ignorance on the subject of art, photography and Leibovitz herself. Either that, or they are a strange example of the loyalty British men have for their No. 1 mum.

Although no one really explained why Annie’s question was so egregious, one journalist did quote Shakespeare’s reason:

“My crown is in my heart, not on my head; Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, Nor to be seen: my crown is called content” (Henry VI, Part III).

If your country is in your heart at all times, then why not take the crown off?

Particularly hilarious were the tabolids’ depictions of the photographer as some kind of controlling, conceited wretch who always gets what she wants. First of all, I’ve met the Leibovitz and she is a quiet, disarming, slight figure….bright, creative and insecure. Second, Annie’s questions and the chances she takes is what makes her one of the best photographers of our time.

This year I joined thousands of people to celebrate July 4th beside a living photograph. Mom, Dad and husband all went down to the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia to watch the big July 4th fireworks being set off from the Washington, D.C. Mall. It was a spectacular spot to see the show with views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument (the needle, as my mother adoringly calls it) as a backdrop. It was enough to get any gruff anti-war protestor or burned-out war vet in a patriotic mood. Even more moving was what was immediately surrounding us—bleached white tombstones in Arlington Cemetery and the towering Iwo Jima Memorial. This famous statue, (you know, the one depicting figures of marines erecting a bronze flagpole) is an icon of American history. It was even simulated in a photo after 9-11 showing firefighters erect a flag into the mounds of twisted metal at Ground Zero. But did you know this 32-foot-high sculpture was inspired by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph? I didn’t, and it exists practically in my backyard. It sort of blends in, maybe even takes a back seat, to the biggies in this area–the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial etc. Yet, this one should be really special to us who love photography because it is based on a real moment in time in 1945, captured with a camera.

The photo was taken at one of the most historic battles of World War II. Iwo Jima, a small island located 660 miles off the coast of Tokyo, was the last territory that U.S. troops recaptured from the Japanese. The statue reveals five marines and a navy hospital corpsman raising the American flag as a signal of the successful takeover of the island. This was extremely significant because it led to the end of the war.

Today, in the Arlington park, a real cloth flag actually flies from the 60-foot bronze flagpole 24 hours, seven days a week. The memorial served as an inspirational gathering on July fourth…some of us even broke into patriotic song. Maybe the park goers felt the energy from the statue’s history even they though they may have not known it was derived from an amazing photo taken more than 50 years ago. I believe images, old or new, can have palpitable power and energy.