Annie Leibovitz proves it again: she can't photograph black women | Tayo Bero

"One thing you see in my photos is that I wasn't afraid to fall in love with these people," Annie Leibovitz said. Yet if you looked at any of her portraits of black women, you'd be hard-pressed to see this love.

Last week, the famed Vogue photographer shared a preview of the magazine's September issue, which features a profile of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The images were a disaster, and the backlash on social media was equally chaotic, with Twitter users furious over yet another failed attempt by Leibovitz to properly photograph black women.

The portraits were taken at the National Mall, the first of which depicts Brown Jackson leaning on a column, hidden behind shadows while the large marble statue of Abraham Lincoln looms over her in the background. In the other, she is seated in the center with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool stretching out behind her.

Both images have the skin tone of Brown Jackson unusually dull and portray none of the power and grace one would expect from a Vogue profile of the first black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Many have also scrutinized the composition of the images. Having Abraham Lincoln as the focal point of the first image came across to many critics as projecting a white savior narrative. Brown Jackson is pictured stepping into his new role as part of a larger tradition in the US government, while the man who ostensibly allowed a black woman to even hold that position hangs literally over- above his head.

< p class="dcr-1of5t9g">This is a long-standing Leibovitz problem. The photographer dropped the ball multiple times in her depictions of other powerful black women, including Simone Biles, Viola Davis, Serena Williams and Rihanna. Either way, she manages to make her subjects dull, ashen, pained and sad, a far cry from the lively, graceful people they usually are.

And don't you don't get me wrong; I'm not saying there's some grand conspiracy concocted by Leibovitz (or Vogue for that matter) to make black women look bad. The 72-year-old is famous for her portraits of world leaders, sports figures and Hollywood's elite, many of which are captured in the same "dark" aesthetic.

The real problem is that when white people are his subject, Leibovitz manages to capture them beautifully in this style. But the dreary, low-light aesthetic just doesn't work the same on black people. Leibovitz's photographs are what happens when Blackness is seen through a white gaze unable to capture its true beauty.

Although she is one of the most more accomplished of her age, it's clear she doesn't have what it takes to photograph black women in a way that shows their true light. And sometimes, what it takes is being Black.

In 2018, New York photographer Tyler Mitchell made history by photographing Beyoncé for the Vogue's September 2018 cover, making him the first black person to do so in the magazine's 128-year history. This alone is a disgrace and a symbol of the dire lack of diversity in the magazine's talent pool. Why does Leibovitz continue to be called upon to do work she is clearly unqualified for, while many talented black photographers languish in obscurity?

Black women can be photographed beautifully in their most natural state without making their features look sad, washed out and completely unnatural.

There are many ways to capture the beauty of black women, but what Annie Leibovitz does just isn't.

Tayo Bero is an American columnist for The Guardian