Steve Jobs

[Nada Jung]

Photo by Albert Watson | Steve Jobs, 2006 (© Albert Watson)

Scottish photographer Albert Watson was hired by a magazine to capture a series of images about the most powerful people in America – enter Steve Jobs.

Jobs was notoriously camera shy and disliked photographers making Watson’s job more challenging. However, he overcame the first barrier by telling Jobs the photo shoot would only last 30 minutes, instead of an hour.

It was a very clever ice-breaker, instantly relaxing Jobs and curry favour with Watson. Consequently, the photo shoot in the end only took 20 minutes.

Watson approached the idea like a passport picture – plain background and no smiling. Jobs was told to look into the camera and imagine you’re facing 3 or 4 people who disagree with you but in your head, you know you’re right.

Steve Jobs said:
❝ That’s easy, I do that every day❞

The authoritative look of Jobs in the portrait affirmed his iconic status as the founder of Apple and displayed this powerful character masked within a frail, mortal frame.

As a result, Jobs said it was the best portrait ever taken of him. Apple went on to use this image to announce the death of Jobs in 2011.