Annie Leibovitz Presents Women of Distinction in Non-Babes 2016 Pirelli Calendar

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Annie Leibovitz Presents Women of Distinction in Non-Babes 2016 Pirelli Calendar

The Pirelli Calendar is noted for its annual issue of female bodies eye candy and also sensual beauty. With few exceptions -- Terry Richardson's calendar, for example -- Pirelli takes the high road in photographing women.

Pirelli's 2016 calendar #43 mines new ground in female imagery, tapping female photographer Annie Leibovitz to shoot 13 inspiring women -- artists, athletes, models, philanthropists and bloggers of every age and skin color. The omission of a Latina woman is noteworthy, unless I have my ethnicities mixed up. This is Leibovitz's second Pirelli calendar, as she shot the 2000 edition.

Leibovitz explains her vision behind this year's calendar, saying:

“I started to think about the roles that women play, women who have achieved something. I wanted to make a classic set of portraits. I thought that the women should look strong but natural, and I decided to keep it a very simple exercise of shooting in the studio,” Leibovitz said in a release. “This calendar is so completely different. It is a departure. The idea was not to have any pretense in these pictures and be very straightforward.” Needless to say, those looking for tropically set nude photos are in for a surprise.