STEVE JOBS AND A STUPID IDEA

Sometimes you have to stand up and fight for your ideas, says Doug Menuez

- Doug Menuez

My assistant and I arrived at NeXT, Inc, two hours ahead of our appointment to photograph CEO Steve Jobs for the cover of Fortune magazine. I had planned to shoot Steve with the incredible floating cement staircase I.M. Pei designed for him in the lobby, a precursor to the clear glass version that later became famous in the Apple stores.

We began by setting up lights and talking things over with Steve’s team, but there was no sign of the man himself. Eventually, Steve came storming in, hours late due to bad traffic on his way down from Pixar and in a terrible mood. He took one look at my setup and said, “This is just stupid. We are not doing this.”