Chris Verene

 Chris Verene (born 1969, Galesburg, Illinois) Attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.  His famous works include Camera Club (Verenes series of photography clubs that advertise to aspiring models offering them a career in the modeling industry, later included to Whitney Biennial) and The Self-Esteem Salon (a performance artwork where Verene's alter personality Cheri Nevers builds a set for "clients" who are in need of a spa-like therapy.. women who need help excepting themselves.)

I'm not entirely sure if it's the colors in his series or the use of light and flash that draw me into his work.  It's honest and doesn't seem demeaning (the monochromatic image above by far is stunning to me). Where some try to stage or even take advantage of the people he uses, he creates beautiful photographs of a struggling culture from the midwest.  Turning their "average-ness" into some extraordinary with color and composition. 

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz (born 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut) studied painting at first at the San Francisco Art Institute but after a trip to Japan her interests photography arose.  In 1970 she began doing work for Rolling Stone magazine.  Two years later she was named chief photographer for the magazine.  In 1983 she joined Vanity Fair, and in 1998 began working Vogue magazine.
One her most famous photographs include the portrait of  John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1980, who had recently released their album “Double Fantasy.” The portrait shows Lennon nude and curled around a fully clothed Ono. Several hours later, Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment. The photograph ran on the cover of the Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue.

Her books include Annie Leibovitz: Photographs (1983), Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970–1990 (1991), Olympic Portraits (1996), Women (1999), American Music (2003), A Photographer’s Life: 1990–2005 (2006), and Annie Leibovitz at Work (2008).

I'm on the edge John Lennons and Yoko Onos portrait.  By far it's a unique and beautiful portrait of the couple.  It represents that they possessed a unique attachment to each other. One thing I'm sure about is that if John hadn't been killed it wouldn't have been as much of a successful photograph. I truly do believe that it makes a difference.  With American pop culture it's always been the rise and fall of celebrities.  It makes it far more interesting when the last photograph of a pop icon is taken hours before an untimely death.  That's what makes this photograph succeed.