Annie Leibovitz – John Lennon and Yoko Ono

In 1980, Annie Leibovitz was tasked with photographing John Lennon and Yoko Ono. At the time she was Rolling Stone’s chief photographer. Annie initially wanted to photograph John alone, but John insisted that Yoko became a part of the image. Inspired by there cover of Double Fantasy, Annie wanted to pose both Yoko and John naked together, but Yoko was reluctant to do so. John, fully unclothed curled up next to Yoko Ono, and Annie captured the moment with an instant camera. Instantly, the 3 knew the photo was special. “You have perfectly captured our relationship” they said.

Unfortunately, hours later Lennon was assassinated in front of his apartment. The photo was published on the January 1981 cover of the Rolling Stone magazine in his memory. Later in 2005, it was voted the best magazine cover of the last 40 years, by the American society of Magazine editors.