When a newspaper or magazine needed a clean headshot of Michael Jordan in the late 1980s, this is the photograph they pulled from the file. The Bulls team portrait — clean background, Jordan facing the camera, jersey collar visible, the smile that was becoming famous. The kind of photograph that accompanied stories about him before the stories became legendary.

The back of this print is an archaeological record of its own use. Six independent marks in multiple colors, placed by different hands over different years. Purple cursive identifying the subject. Red handwriting cross-referencing his jersey number. Blue date stamp from February 1991 — mid-championship season, when this portrait was pulled to accompany a story about something Jordan had just done. Additional stamps from October 1988 and earlier. Crop marks indicating exactly how an editor sized it for a specific publication layout.

The DimeLabs collection contains seventeen Type 1 photographs. This is the only official team portrait among them. Every other photograph in the collection captures Jordan in motion — on the court, at the Olympics, in the locker room. This one captures him still. Looking at the camera. Smiling. Before everything that came next.