Gunnar Seijbold
Photographer noted for his portraits of the great and good
GUNNAR SEIJBOLD, who has died of Covid-19 aged 65, was a Swedish freelance photographer who took striking, often lively images of (among others) Barack Obama, the director Ingmar Bergman, and the Swedish prime minister Carl
Bildt; he also served as the European Union’s official photographer when Sweden held the presidency of the bloc’s European Council.
Carl Gunnar Seijbold was born on January 25 1955 and grew up in Stockholm, the son of Ollie Seijbold – another celebrated photographer who had chronicled Sweden’s extradition of Baltic soldiers in the aftermath of the Second World War – and Viola.
During his career he worked for the evening newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen, and for the daily Dagens Nyheter. All three papers were based in Stockholm but aspired to nationwide coverage, with Dagens Nyheter in particular priding itself on its international reporting.
So Seijbold’s subjects were of more than passing local interest. He was among the crowds that celebrated Sweden’s 1992 victory in the ice hockey world championship, and joined the parade that welcomed the country’s football team back from the 1994 World Cup in the United States (where they team won bronze).
Possessing a mischievous sense of humour – as well as a keen interest in others, regardless of status – he delighted in teasing Barack Obama and the Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt during the latter’s visit to the US in 2009. The result was a warm, candid shot of the leaders in conversation, against a backdrop of the two countries’ flags.
Keenly interested in new technologies, Seijbold was among the photographers dispatched to the CES trade show in Las Vegas in 2007, where thousands of companies showcased their latest innovations.
However, together with his Aftonbladet colleague Peter Pettersson, Seijbold got wind of a more unusual event unfolding elsewhere. After more than two years of hype, Apple’s technology guru Steve Jobs was about to unveil his “revolutionary product” – the world’s first iphone. Seijbold and Pettersson made haste to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. After the official part of the launch was over, an over-excited Jobs lingered to take questions and hold up his creation for Seijbold’s camera.
For six months until January 2010, Seijbold held the title of “EU official photographer”, the post being time-limited to coincide with Sweden’s leadership period. He was in charge of documenting everything from the battle to reach a global agreement on climate change to the daylong Equality Summit, attended by around 300 delegates, to discuss possible measures to tackle discrimination.
Even here he displayed a keen sense of how to enliven a portrait. His picture of the humantrafficking expert Dr Myria Vassiliadou, for example, was shot so as to draw the eye from the red of her necklace to the pen she held, pressed in thought, to her mouth.
In his spare time Seijbold enjoyed playing bass guitar, even notching up a credit on the 1994 album För Jaevle Braa! by the rockabilly musician Eddie Meduza.
He is survived by a son.
Gunnar Seijbold, born January 25 1955, died April 25 2020