Rest in peace Steve Jobs, that seemed to be the theme this whole entire month when the iconic and visionary CEO of Apple passed away. Plenty of blog posts, news wire, memorial services flood the internet, I was curious. Curious about his life, curious about this photo.



Yes, that is the photo on the splash screen on the Apple website. Getting aside from being emotional over the demise of a great man, the curious side of me or shall I say the photographer in me wondered, who was the guy who took that image of Steve and what was the story behind it?

This sort of sparked from a message I received from Grace about taking images of family members during a wedding and you never knew when they would use those images. The last thing on my mind was that at the funeral memorial service. But it did make sense to use because in our Malaysian mindset, taking photos isn't so much of something my parent's generation like to do and how many times have we seen on the obituary, the photo used in our IC (identification card) is displayed.

Anyway back to the point. After mucking around on the internet, I found out a little bit more about the story behind the image of Steve. Read it more below.

Steve Jobs: Visionary, Inventor, and Very Challenging Photo Subject

©Doug Menuez/Getty Images

The media is heaping accolades on Apple founder Steve Jobs, who died yesterday of cancer at the age of 56. Tributes have poured in from all over the world. Jobs was a  visionary who changed the way we use and interact with technology. The iPhone and iPad have certainly helped re-make the photography landscape.

But Steve Jobs also had a reputation among photographers for being a difficult subject–and not just run-of-the mill difficult, but the archetype of difficult.

“It was the joke among photographers. He was like the nightmare subject,” says San Francisco photographer William Mercer McLeod, who photographed Jobs on assignment a total of five times, and once worked for Apple, helping to develop the company’s Aperture software.

Asked to recount his experiences photographing Jobs, another photographer said,  “I don’t really want to be the guy who pans iGod during this hour of national mourning!”

Photojournalist Ed Kashi, who photographed Jobs about 10 times between the early 1980s and early 1990s, recalled via text message, “He was one of the most difficult subjects I ever dealt with during my Silicon Valley years but I appreciated his awareness of identity, setting and message of the images. There was one time I had to get a picture with him and Ross Perot and when Jobs acted up Perot turned to him and like a stern parent said ‘Steve, Grow up!!’ No matter how dreadful he could be as a subject, I am deeply saddened by his early departure.”

McLeod says his first encounter with Jobs was as an assistant for Kashi. “It was in the late 80s. [Jobs] walked into the photo shoot and started moving the lights around. Then he picked up the phone and called the art director in New York and said he wanted to do something different.”

McLeod recalls how he and Kashi stood there watching in disbelief. “He’s the only person I ever saw do that,” McLeod continues. “Photographing Steve was like a dance. He had such a thing for control like nobody I’ve ever seen. He loved to be in charge. He wanted to have his say.”

“From an editor’s standpoint he could be difficult,” says Scott Thode, a former Fortunemagazine photo editor. “[He was] not unlike a political candidate. The main difference is that he had a real sense of design and how things can look.”

Doug Menuez spent more time photographing Jobs than just about any other photographer, after Jobs agreed to let him document the development of the NeXT computer. Menuez had access to the labs and boardroom for three years.

“In all those years, Steve only screamed at me at the top of his lungs once,” Menuez recalls. It was in 1988, when Fortune hired Menuez to shoot a portrait of Jobs for the cover of the magazine. Menuez wanted to photograph him in the NeXT offices, on a staircase that Jobs had commissioned architect I.M Pei to design. Jobs arrived for the shoot, looked at what Menuez had in mind, “then [he] leaned in and says, ‘This is the stupidest fucking idea that I’ve ever seen.’ Right in my face, like  5 or 6 inches away,” Menuez says. “I felt like I was 10 years old. He went off on a tirade. He said, ‘You just want to sell magazines. ‘And I said, ‘And you want to sell computers.’ And at that he said, ‘OK,’ and sat down.

Menuez concludes, “ I’ve been in war zones, but I like to say that I became a man learning how to stand my ground with Steve.”

Albert Watson, who photographed Jobs just once for a portfolio of people in power that Fortune commissioned him to shoot in 2006, had a different experience from other photographers. “The one thing I insisted on was that we have a three hour window of set up time,” Watson says. “We were prepared…we set up to make [every shoot] as greased lightning fast as possible for the [subject].’ Watson says he had also read “a massive amount of stuff” about Jobs to help him conceptualize the shoot, and so he would be able to converse with Jobs intelligently.

When Jobs walked in, Watson says that his power, charisma and genius were palpable. “It was like when Clint Eastwood walks in to the room.”

Jobs didn’t look immediately at Watson, but looked instead at the set-up and then focused on Watson’s 4×5 camera “like it was something dinosauric,” Watson recalls, “and he said, ‘Wow, you’re shooting film.”

“I said, ‘I don’t feel like digital is quite here yet.’ And he said, ‘I agree,’ then he turned and looked at me and said, ‘But we’ll get there.’”

Jobs gave Watson about an hour–much longer than he ever gave most photographers for a portrait session. “I had wanted to do the shot in a minimalistic way because I knew that was going to suit him very well. He said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I said I would like 95 percent, almost 100 percent of eye contact with the camera, and I said, ‘Think about the next project you have on the table,’ and I asked him also to think about instances where people have challenged him.

“If you look at that shot, you can see the intensity. It was my intention that by looking at him, that you knew this guy was smart,” Watson says, adding, “I heard later that it was his favorite photograph of all time.”

Apple cleared its home page today to post that photograph as a tribute to Jobs.

(correction: an earlier version of this story said Fortune commissioned Albert Watson to photograph Steve Jobs in 2008. The date was actually 2006.)

Source of the story: http://pdnpulse.com/2011/10/steve-jobs-visionary-inventor-and-very-challenging-photo-subject.html 

The amount of work put in by the photographers just to shoot Steve was absolutely amazing, I mean, 3 hours or prep work? Shooting in film? Standing up to his screams? These are the guys who like in turn captures the most amazing or memorable images. And with this image plastered on the Apple main page, hundreds of millions of people will remember Steve by it. What an honour.

Now, to gain a little bit of insight to what they meant about Steve's character, I would recommend that you watch this show, Pirates of Silicon Valley, to see how Steve's character was portrayed alongside together with Bill Gates. Because frankly, before watching this movie, Steve in my head was that of an angel with a strong fatherly figure and someone you might look up to and ask for more porridge. Well, that movie did definitely set my thinking straight but it also came to me as a revelation that Steve's character is what made Apple what it is today.

In keeping with my New Year's resolution, here is another blog post on Elliot and Charlotte's engagement shoot.

I knew both of them through church and Elliot is a fantastic drummer and Charlotte's a fantastic dancer. The two of them looked so sweet and they got married recently! Congratulations to both Elliot and Charlotte. I have a lot to thank Elliot by especially since he was one of the emcees for my own personal wedding, I knew I had to photograph the two of them.

Here are some of my favourite shots below :)



The first guy I photographed who had hair longer than his wife's. :P



































All the best to both Elliot and Charlotte in their new journey in life!

I have known Nick for quite some time now ever since the Lowyat photography days and when he asked me to shoot his pre-wedding, I couldn't say "no" to him. Here are some of the photos from the session. Boy, did I really have so much fun shooting the couple. Both Nick and Sharon were very sporting and they were a really funny couple to photograph. A huge thanks to Mun Tzin as well for helping me out.



I really love capturing the bouquet especially when they are so nicely decorated such as the one above.



The head piece was from Pretty in White! I really love birdcage veils.



We started the shoot from inside the room which was themed after a middle eastern design.













After shooting for a while, we decided to try and capture the sunset. I really love sunset shots and I really love the warm colour tone!









All the best Nick and Sharon. Can't wait to shoot your wedding next month! Gosh, time really flies!

Cameron Highlands has been a very nice and eventful place for me. Mainly because I can only remember going there twice when I was very young and the only eventful thing that occurred to me was that I bought cheap flowers there and the weather was quite cooling and there was a roti canai that was completely covered with flies!

You can find out more about Cameron Highlands in my other posts here and here.

Whilst I was there recently with my friends, I decided to bring some of my gears up to Camerons with me to take some portaiture shots at the tea plantations. Here are some of my favourite ones.















These shots were taken at the Boh Tea Plantation where it was quite difficult to drive in. Trust me, it is only a one way dirt road so I think this was where my car rims got bent when I was travelling through it. The view there was fantastic and I just loved the tea plantations.

On the way back from Camerons, we also passed by another tea plantation called Cameronian Valley and decided to snap more shots there as well.





And finally a group photo of us before heading down back to KL.



Sorry guys, I will pass you all the full set of photos soon ok? Organize a makan event and I can pass it to you all then.

Now the title of this post says it all, instead of finding ways to always treat ourselves and making ourselves feel good by buying that really nice new gadget (hides in shame as I have been lusting for the iPad), lets do something different for a change, lets make that difference in someone's life.

So, do you know of someone who would love to have their photo taken? It could be an engaged friend who wants amazing wedding portraits but cannot afford it. Or it could be the family living next door that has been contributing so much to society but just never had their family photograph taken. Or it could be a friend living with a terminal illness.

It’s up to you.

Tell me their story.

Contest Details:
1. Nominate a friend and write an email to (grace.tan [at] stories.my) explaining why this person / family / couple deserves a free shoot. It is up to you to be as creative as possible with your entries! Please attach a photo of your friend. If you don’t have a photo, you can create any kind of graphic with images or text and send it to me. The photo can be a web resolution photo. Please include the contact information of your friend (eg. phone number or email).

2. Every week, selected images and stories will be uploaded onto the Facebook Stories page. Invite your friends to ‘like’ your story.

3. The contest will end by 31 May 2010.

4. Judges from Stories.my will select the top 2 stories with consideration of the public votes. However, the number of ‘likes’ may not necessarily influence the final decision of the judges, who will decide based on story idea. Your nominated friend will win a 1 hour photography session with Stories.my. He/she will get all the photos on CD (printable up to 4R size) and one 15″ x 10″ matte photo print. Shoots are to happen within the month of June or July 2010 within the Klang valley.

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

For more information about the contest, head over to the following links below :)

• http://stories.my/help-your-friend-win-a-free-portrait-shoot/


• http://www.facebook.com/photo_comments.php?id=119085758107815&

I have to personally thank Nick for asking me to tag along with him during his portrait shoot with Bobby and Rennie. Nick was one of the participants of the recently held got Mojo? Camp organized by the crazy folks over at RedNinja (me included!) and I thought I could help him out and also offer to carry the reflector for him. He was also in the group that I was leading during the individual and group challenges.

The shoot was held at Pavillion, right at the heart of KL itself but it was early in the morning. Traffic heading there was pretty smooth and I was pleasantly surprised that the guards didn't chase us away.

Here are some of the photos I took including some of the behind the scenes shots.





I managed to catch this moment when they were playing whilst Nick was packing up his stuff.







After staying under the hot sun and making everyone walk about from end to end, we all decided to head to Starbucks for a quick drink.











Bobby seems a little intrigued with Nick's flash. Nick told him that he was a flasher!



Here are some of the behind the scenes photos.



I find Bobby's expression priceless when Nick was trying to explain the pose.



Nick was really trying hard to blend in together with the taxi stand.







I was literally behind the scene for this shot. Funnily, the couple in front wasn't Bobby and Rennie, they were just coming out of the toilet! Imagine their surprise when they saw Nick and Hsien Ming right in front of them like that. LOL.





Actually, this was the start of my labour day last Saturday. It's Thursday everyone, have a great weekend ahead!