Photographer recalls how Theranos PR team tried to control Elizabeth Holmes' image

A photo shoot that now looks suspicious

In 2015, photographer Benjamin Rasmussen traveled to Theranos' headquarters in Palo Alto, California, on assignment for Bloomberg Businessweek to photograph founder Elizabeth Holmes. At the time, The Wall Street Journal had already begun publishing reports questioning the company's claims that it could revolutionize blood testing using only a tiny sample.

Rasmussen recently recounted the experience after seeing the trailer for Nathan Fielder's upcoming documentary "You Can See Everything." He shared his account on Instagram, and CNN also reported on it.

Tight control by the PR team

According to Rasmussen, Theranos' PR team had abruptly changed strategy: instead of presenting Holmes as a lone, Steve Jobs-like figure in her signature black turtleneck, they insisted on group portraits showing her surrounded by a team of women scientists. Rasmussen and his assistant, Ryan Brown, were reportedly told they could only shoot these group scenes.

Rasmussen told CNN that the room where the shoot took place did not feel like a tightly controlled laboratory — unlike other medical facilities he had photographed before, there were no strict hygiene procedures, only an instruction to wash his hands. The space contained long tables, equipment, and cardboard boxes.

How the "forbidden" portrait happened

To get the solo shot he wanted, Rasmussen and Brown used the room's window blinds as a backdrop. While continuing to photograph the approved group scenes, they gradually moved Holmes closer to the window; Brown held up a large reflector to block the PR team's view, while Rasmussen kept giving directions to scientists who were no longer even in frame. The result was a close-up of Holmes in her white lab coat against a white background, with what the photographer described as a "look of quiet desperation." Both sources report that Theranos was unhappy with the resulting images.

Looking back

Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors in 2022 and is currently serving her sentence at a federal prison in Bryan, Texas. Rasmussen only made his account public now, admitting that in hindsight he questions whether the entire shoot was staged. He suspects that at the time, Holmes herself may have been the only person in the room who truly understood how close the company was to collapse.