Monday, March 2, 2009

Annie L's Financial Woes

Leibovitz's controversial photo of a naked and pregnant Demi Moore for Vanity Fair

Uber-photographer, Annie Leibovitz, has money problems. (Don't we all these days? Leastwise, many of us do.) It seems Ms. L has hocked properties, as well as the copyrights to all her photos--past, present, and future--against a loan from Art Capital Group, a NYC lender. It's reported the loans total $15.5M.

One would think a photographer of Ms. L's status and income would be immune from financial woes. Apparently, not so.

Some reports say Ms. L's personal finances are just fine: The loans being the result of Annie's inheritance from the Susan Sontag estate, i.e., a condition of the bequethment was that Ms. L needed to pay-off balances on properties, once owned by Sontag, in order to qualify as a beneficiary of the estate.

On an upbeat note, it's good to know there are lenders who place real value on photographs and photography!

Now, if I can only figure out how to make all my snaps worth $15.5M! Heck, I'd settle for just a million or two.