Daily Inspiration Quote by Annie Leibovitz

Leibovitz is smuggling a whole philosophy of image-making into an offhand bit of shop talk. The numbers matter: “two rolls, medium format… 20 pictures” is a deliberate rejection of the digital-era reflex to machine-gun a subject into submission. Medium format is expensive, slower, and physically cumbersome; it forces you to commit. By naming the constraint, she frames limitation as a creative tool, not a handicap. The subtext is control: not control over the person in front of the lens, but control over the decision-making environment. Fewer frames means each exposure has to carry intention, not just possibility.

Then comes the pivot: “if it’s not working, I change the position.” That’s the quiet flex. She’s not talking about tweaking ISO or chasing a new lens. She’s talking about moving her body, her angle, her relationship to the subject. In other words, when the picture fails, she assumes the problem isn’t the subject’s face; it’s the photographer’s stance, literally and psychologically. It’s a pragmatist’s version of accountability.

Contextually, it also reads as a portraitist’s defense against the myth of effortless genius. Leibovitz’s brand is iconic access and high production, but this line insists the core craft is still iterative and observational: test, evaluate fast, adjust. The “maybe” softens it, but the method is rigorous. The glamour is downstream of the discipline.