Annie Leibovitz Shoots Obama Family Portrait
Famed photog first shot prez in '04
Updated 2:26 PM EDT, Fri, Oct 23, 2009
President Obama and his family released their official first family portrait Friday, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The president and first lady are shown smiling, with the arms of their daughters, Sasha and Malia, draped around them. The picture was taken Sept. 1 as the first family sat in an informal pose in the White House’s Green Room.
Leibovitz has frequented the White House in the last few months for a series of portraits for Vanity Fair. According to the magazine, the photographer’s relationship with the first family goes back to 2004, when Obama was running for the U.S. Senate. She shot his family at the campaign headquarters, long before he was in the running for the presidency.
Leibovitz photographed President Obama again in 2007, shortly after he announced his intentions to run, for Vanity Fair’s Africa issue. She was then spotted taking candid photographs of Obama on the trail in 2008 on behalf of Men’s Vogue.
The celebrity photographer has been in the news of late due to financial problems. Art Capital Group sued Leibovitz for failing to meet deadlines on a $24 million loan, which she needed to in order to deal with a “dire financial condition” stemming from her mortgage obligations, tax liens and unpaid bills.
Leibovitz was in danger of losing the rights to photographs that she had put up as collateral, but she recently won an extension.
Copyright MSNBC
First Published: Oct 23, 2009 10:06 AM EDT
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