"We were two guys goofing off having fun," he recalls 28 years later
Steve Jobs with Mac. Photo by Norman Seeff. Click to enlarge.
Ray Basile, who hung out in Norman Seeff's Laurel Canyon studio as a teenager and now writes a blog called iPhone Savior, has posted a long interview with the South African photographer whose portrait of Steve Jobs ended up on the cover of Time Magazine and the book jacket of Walter Isaacson's' biography.
Seeff, who had long career as a photographer of celebrities from Andy Warhol to Whitney Houston, tells how he flew to Apple's (AAPL) Cupertino, Calif., headquarters in 1984, tasked with shooting the Macintosh design team.
"I decided to start with the team rather than Steve right out. They were like a commune, very different than what you'd expect in a corporation. There was a tremendous sense of family, a tremendous sense of shared innovative thinking that seemed to be future oriented.
"I got all of these people together in the room and I could see Steve in the background. You could see him thinking 'this looks like fun - I wanna play'. Every now and again he'd sneak into the room and he'd kind of glom on -- if I was shooting 20 people together he'd run in and he wouldn't stand in the middle -- rather he'd put his arm around someone on the edge and in that way, I was able to get a shot of him with the group."
Photo by Norman Seeff
Later Seeff suggested that they photograph Jobs by himself in his Woodside mansion.
"We drove over to his house and we sat in that large unfurnished living room and we were just in conversation. My fundamental approach is not to try and take photographs, but to create an authentic, honest relationship so that they forget that the camera is even there.
"He was so inspired in that moment and said 'I'll be right back' and he ran out of the room and he came running back in with the new Mac and he just plopped on the floor.
"So we didn't think of an idea, we just had a moment. What was encapsulated in that box was his baby. Now if we had conceptualized it and said 'let's put you in a lotus position so that you look like a guru and let's put the Mac on your lap and let me get the right angle and now look at me' — but none of that happened.
"He walked in and he fell into that place in one second and I got the shot, it was that easy. I didn't tell him what to do, he just did it. There isn't any other process that works unless it's collaborative, that's the foundation of working with innovative people - you don't 'do it' to anybody — you participate with them."
Lithographs of the original black-and-white photo, printed on 25 x 36 inch sheets, are now available for $75. Signed and numbered copies, with a touch of color on the Apple logo, are $125.
Basile has the details, plus a gallery of more Seeff photos shot that day. Click here.
Likely to exceed the tech sector's average 1.2% dividend, driving share price up $100
Click to enlarge.
The institutions that hold 70% of Apple's (AAPL) shares lobbied Steve Jobs for years to put some of his company's rapidly growing cash hoard in their hands.
Now that his successor is talking openly about the company's discussions to do just that, the sell-side analysts have started to calculate how big their share might be.
The latest MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 16, 2012 12:06 PM ET
Forty five minutes with the man who took over when Steve Jobs stepped down
Tim Cook
For those of you who missed Tim Cook's keynote presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco Tuesday, the audio is still available in QuickTime on Apple's (AAPL) website here.
For those who prefer to read than to listen, we've posted an edited transcript of his remarks below the fold.
Corrections most appreciated.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 15, 2012 5:38 AM ET
The man who took over from Steve Jobs makes a rare public appearance
In a much anticipated follow-up on the 2008 Q&A that helped seal his reputation with investors (see here), Tim Cook takes questions at a Goldman Sachs technology conference.
Apple (AAPL) is providing a live streaming audio webcast here. [Transcript here.] We're going to assume you are listening in real time or catching the event after the fact, and will MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 14, 2012 3:29 PM ET
A Google search turns up 114 million hits, but that couldn't be right. Could it?
Image: Techmeme
The Wall Street Journal was getting a lot of play Tuesday morning with a report out of Taiwan that Apple (AAPL), to "broaden its product pipeline" and respond to "intensifying competition," was testing a new smaller tablet with a screen size of about 8 inches.
Color us skeptical.
First of all, we don't sense MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 14, 2012 12:00 PM ET
Scheduled to make a rare appearance at a Goldman Sachs technology conference
Click for the audio webcast.
It's been nearly four years since Tim Cook, then Apple's (AAPL) chief operating officer, appeared at a Goldman Sachs investors symposium to answer the urgent questions that had been piling up all winter.
The stock had fallen more than $80 a share -- to below $120 -- in the space of a month and the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 13, 2012 5:23 PM ET
"We love music, and it's always good to do something you love."
Accepting the honorary award -- Steve Jobs' second Grammy -- on behalf of his wife, children and "everyone at Apple" (AAPL), senior vice president for Internet software and services, Eddy Cue.
Via Macrumors.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 12, 2012 2:23 PM ET
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Google (GOOG) is developing a home entertainment system that will wirelessly stream music. The move is notable as Google will design and market the hardware itself. (The Wall Street Journal)
* Steve Jobs' 191-page FBI file was released yesterday. Among the random tidbits: the Apple co-founder and former CEO maintained a MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Feb 10, 2012 7:48 AM ET
We slogged through the 119-page document so you wouldn't have to
Jobs at NeXT. Source: TheStreet
In 1991, while Steve Jobs was at NeXT and before he returned to Apple (AAPL), the first President Bush considered him for an appointment on the White House's Export Council, triggering an FBI background check. [Update: The Commerce Department confirmed that Jobs did in fact serve on Bush's Export Council.]
In October 2011, MuckRock's Michael Morisy, a former journalist MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 9, 2012 2:36 PM ET
The company has gained nearly one Facebook in value since Steve Jobs died
On Oct. 4, the day before Steve Jobs passed away, Apple (AAPL) shares closed at $372.50 and its market cap stood at $347 billion.
Four months later, the stock is up nearly $100 and its market cap is $437 billion. To put that $90 billion gain in perspective, it's nine tenths the value analysts have placed on Facebook in MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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