Snaps jazzman
by Byron Laursen
AL JARREAU
He has a type of personality
endowed with such a charm as
he could turn a work into a
merry party before men yet
aware of."
Iakenobu Iyaraihi. inurnalisl
on Norman SeeH
It ,rF
1
i housands of other photogra
phers have technical ability
greater than mine, asserts
Norman Secff, the blond South At
rlcan ex doctor who has complied
one of the most fame-laden client
lists in existence Ninety percent
of the students who come here
have more technical expertise than
I do
To Seeff it s the photo session
the human interaction that qual
dies as .irt The rest is mere
picture-taking Typically, a session
with Seed involves hours ot heh.iv
ior that could pass lor partying
Subjects sing, dance drink laugh at
themselves Seed watches, encour
age. what he likes photographs
what he likes best all the while
aiming for .1 core ol spontaneity
that emerges when personality de
fenses are (nit aside Assistants
hand him loaded cameras on de
mand and then develop and print
the expended <■> mm film to Seed
specifications One writer to Seed's
displeasure, called his images of
stars in moments of candor
the naked self under bulletproof
glass
Shooting for the cover of prop
\iUi vocalist Al larreau s newest IP
(at |>ress time, final image choices
were not yet madei Seeff assem
bled himself, his subject his tour
ye,ir-old daughter and a small army
of assistants The studio, a vaguely
derelict building on Sunset Strip
has a beautifully functional north
end A skylight opens to north light
ana a loft opposite it permits par
tial overhead angles larreau began
singing almost as soon as he ar
rived This man is so magical and
self-confident Seeff said afterward
I d say this was among the top ten
percent of all the sessions I've ever
done You know the notion that
creative people are all neurotic isn t
true The greater the artist, the
more open and inspired the person
is about everything But everyone
has an inner creative quality Stars
are lust people who have learned to
protect it publicly
Midway through the session
Seeff s daughter fills a lull by rush
ing up to the singer and nuzzling
him as if they were both puppies
larreau lifts her up, entranced, while
a pleased father keeps snapping
images
Norman Seeff grew up in lohan
nesburg, South Africa. His father, a
doctor and a fine artist, assumed
the son would ultimately hew to
the medical profession as well
Norman did indeed study and prac
tice medicine, but his happiest
moments came in off-duty hours
He would plunge directly from doc
toring into the life of a bohemian
painter in the lohannesburg equiva
lent of Greenwich Village. Came the
dawn and he was a doctor again
In 1968 he ran afoul of the South
African government's racial segre
gation policies and left the country
in vital haste. Eventually he landed
in New York, unable to practice
medicine because of licensing re
quirements He had a 35 mm single
lens-reflex camera, an old Nikon
Persistent work won him magazine
assignments. He shot lames Taylor
for Harper's Bazaar. and a photo
from that session was chosen for
the cover of a lames Taylor Song
Book. Increasing specialization in
musical subjects took him to Los
Angeles, first to be an art director
for a record company, then to free
lance
A 1974 book. Hot Shots, collected
many of Seeff s best images to
date Without doubt the most
commented-on example among
them is the shot of Carly Simon on
the cover of her Playing Possum LP.
probably the best sales booster of
her career
The diversity of disciplines and
fads he sampled, searching for ways
to better open up creative com
munication. spanned yoga and
Hindu Scripture Life chose Seeff for
a portfolio of emergent musical
stars of 1979 Blondie. tne Police
loe lackson. Brian Eno, and the
Talking Heads were among them
More recently he has photographed
tne Pointer Sisters and President
Ronald Reagan
I had a lovely session with him,"
Seeff says. Of course, I'm totally at
odds with his policies, if we had
talked about politics, there
wouldn t have been any communi
cation at all
Nevertheless, it isn't easy to
imagine the president going
through what Seeff calls ' stages
of getting more and more inspired
lcontinued on page 14)