Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.Photo:George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
Photographer George Lange says he has captured one of the only — if not the only — posed photos ofSteve JobsandBill Gatestogether, and he has a surprising story from that day.“They’re sitting there and they’re so competitive,” he tells PEOPLE of his 1991 photo shoot with the businessmen. “Bill Gates is going, ‘You’re never going to beat me at anything. And he goes, ‘You might tie me, but you’ll never beat me at anything.’ And it’s like, who talks like that?” He would then photograph Gates and Jobs sitting and smiling together on a stairway.The photographer writes of this exchange, and more, in his new bookPicturing Joy: Stories of Connection, which publishes today from Girl Friday Books. In the book, Lange presents an array of photos and stories from throughout his career, with portraits of figures from Andy Warhol to the Obamas, from people in his everyday life to some of the most recognizable names we know.
Girl Friday Books
Lange has always loved capturing people’s happiness in his work, which was a rare feat while he was studying at art school.“They told me that if someone was smiling in one of my pictures, that it wasn’t art,” Lange says. “And everyone at my school wanted to be a famous artist. So I was an outlier.”
Jim Carrey.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
His philosophy has served him well when photographing celebrities. A particular moment of happiness occurred when he photographedJim Carrey, who would often invite children from the Make-A-Wish foundation to join him. During one shoot, Carrey let one of the kids take a picture of him.
“The room got silent,” Lange recalls. “[We were] quiet and nervous because we didn’t know what was going to happen and would this kid have the confidence to tell him to do anything? And then he just burst out, ‘Give it to me, Jimmy!’ and hit the button. And we all just died. We are all just on the floor crying and laughing and Jim is just screaming…those are the moments that we live for.”
Lange also believes in what he calls “black key” moments, where the unexpected can happen during a photoshoot. When Lange arrived to photographSophia LorenforAllure, the actress allowed him to take a picture of her while she was still putting on her makeup.
Sophia Loren.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
On another instance, when Lange was sent to photographSpike Leein Brooklyn, he noticed some local children playing outside and invited them to get into the picture.“The thing I love about this picture is Spike,” Lange says. “I love Spike. I think he’s an extraordinary director, an extraordinary person…but when you photograph him, it’s hard for him to share that. It doesn’t come through a lot of the time…but when I got him around all those kids, there’s this sweetness that comes out in that picture that’s so nice.”
Spike Lee.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
Lange has stated ina previous interview with PEOPLEthat he typically doesn’t “photograph groups that well.” When he took pictures of theFriendscast in 1995, he had the cast pose in circles hung on the walls and simply told them to “hold each other” — it turned out to be one of his most successful group photos.“I wasn’t interested in the characters that they created as much as who they were,” he says.
The cast of ‘Friends’.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
Lange has also been able to create powerful portraits, such as of lawyer and educator Anita Hill, as well asBarackandMichelle Obama, which proved to be a memorable experience.“That was one of the few shoots that I really was a little starstruck,” he says. Lange photographed the Obamas in a Columbus nursing home that they were visiting. When he set up his makeshift studio, the power went out, since the electricity was not made for his lights set-up.
Barack and Michelle Obama.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
“I’m doing pictures of him and Michelle and the power goes out,” Lange says. “But there’s still light coming from behind. So I just keep shooting and that became the most interesting picture, I think.”
Lange has also captured interesting celebrity pairings. He photographedJimmyandWarren BuffettforFortuneand had the two dress up as each other, which was “just priceless.”
Jimmy and Warren Buffett.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
Paul Simon and LL Cool J.George Lange, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection (Girl Friday Books, November 2023)
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Lange also shares photographs of non-celebrities in his book — people from his everyday life that he photographs in the “exact same way,” and with similar results of joy.“They give me themselves for a moment, to share and to capture something,” Lange says. “And it’s such a privilege.”Picturing Joy: Stories of Connectionis out now.
source: people.com
