Штатные (и не только) фотографы Битлз

Norman Parkinson

1913 Born in London
d. 1990

Biography
1931-33 Apprentice to the court photographers Speaight and Sons Ltd.
1934 Opened own studio with Norman Kibblewhite
1935-40 Worked for Harper's Bazaar and The Bystander
1937-39 Series of photographic essays for the British Armed Services
1940-45 Reconnaissance photography over France for Royal Air Force
1945-60 Portrait and fashion photographer for Vogue
1952 First advertising work
1960-64 Associate Contributing Editor of Queen
1963 Moved to Tobago
Since 1964 Freelance photographer

http://www.josephbellows.com/parkinson.html

внизу -
The Beatles (George Harrison; Sir Paul McCartney; Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey); John Lennon)
by Norman Parkinson
Date: 1963
Medium: bromide print
Measurements: 15 1/2 in. x 23 3/8 in. (395 mm x 594 mm)

http://www.longislandmusicscene.com/paulsaltzman_interview.htm
What do you do for an encore? After you've spent a week in India with The Beatles in 1968, at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram, taken over fifty intimate photos of the band members, and recently discovered the snapshots in a cardboard box that you had left undisturbed for 30 years…

We recently met with Paul Saltzman at the Beatlefest in New Jersey, and we spoke for a while.


Longislandmusicscene.com [LIMS]: Tell us how you came to arrive in India, and how you ultimately got to spend some time with the Beatles.



[Paul Saltzman]: I was working on a National Film Board Of Canada film, and I was doing sound recording. I was in India, and I got a Dear Paul letter from my girlfriend, "Dear Paul, I have moved in with Henry," and I was heartbroken. A friend said maybe meditation would help. I was suffering and he said the Maharishi was speaking at New Delhi University tonight. So I went with him, and it sounded like meditation would be good. I took a train 3 or 4 hours overnight, to Rishikesh, and literally just got off the train and said to somebody, "Do you know where the Maharishi's ashram is?" and they said "I think it's across the river". I took a boat across the river, and the boatman said, "Maharishi's ashram, that way," and he pointed up the Ganges. I walked until I saw a little sign that was pointing up a steep cliff, saying "ASHRAM". It was very surreal. I got there. I didn't know that the Beatles would be there. I was really just interested in feeling better. I got to the gate, and I said that I'd like to learn meditation. They said that they were sorry, and that the ashram was closed. They were doing a teachers course with the Beatles, and their wives were there. That was when I found out that they were there. They told me, "You can't come in," but in nicer words, to which I replied "You have to let me in! I need to learn meditation!". They said, "We're really sorry". So I said, "Can I wait?" The young man who I was talking to was kind, and said "Oh, okay," and he pointed across the path. There was an old army tent set up that wasn't being used. He said that I could sleep there, and that they would send me their simple vegetarian meals, and eight days later we got to know eachother a bit, and I think he realized that I wasn't there to meet the Beatles. I was there to learn meditation. Eight days later, and he said that I could come in to the ashram, and I learned meditation. A couple of hours later, I met the Beatles.

[LIMS]: Which of the four Beatles would you say that felt you had the strongest bond with?

[Paul Saltzman]: Definitely John, and second to John it was George. That was partly because I had some private time with John, during which we talked about something that I was struggling with as a young 24 year-old; "ego". For a couple of years I had been feeling like when I do something good, and I'm proud of myself, is that bad? Is that ego? Or if I do something good, should I not notice that it's good, kind of not taking pride in it? So John and I are sitting alone, and I literally thought to myself that he would know about this. I thought, well, why would he be interested in hearing this from me? The sentence in my head was literally "Why would he care? He's a Beatle after all, and I'm just some ordinary shmoe." As soon as I had thought that, another voice in my head said "Hey, come on, he's a 27 year-old young guy, and you're a 24 year-old young guy. Ask him." So I asked him, and he started to laugh. His exact words were, "I have that in me head too, mate". And it was like, whoa, he's dealing with the same thing! He said, "I had just asked the Maharishi last week, and the Maharishi had explained to me that his solution for this was that if you do something good it is fine if you feel good about it. It's fine if you get an ego boost. If you harm people, it's not okay. So if you help people, it's okay." So that was the line, and his last sentence to me on that subject was, "So that's where you draw the line, mate." I had a very lovely connection with John, and with George I had a different but very lovely connection.

[LIMS]: What are some of your favorite memories from having spent time there?

[Paul Saltzman]: My most favorite memory is that I learned meditation in one half hour. The agony of a heartbreak changed to, and transformed genuinely into a loss. It was still a loss of someone that I loved, but the agony turned into a deeper understanding and a serenity. I realized that if she was really not happy with me, and if I really loved her, then it's good that she found somebody that she was happy with. It was deeply sincere, even though I still felt the loss, and I still missed her. Secondly, it was meeting the Beatles. They were unbelievably down to earth. I asked each of them individually if I could take the odd picture. And even though I was with them for a week, just hanging out, they each said "yes". And I knew, because it was like being in the inner circle for a week, they wouldn't mind if I took 500 pictures. I only took 54, in a week. Just meeting them, and the joy of chatting with people who's music I had loved, and their music had changed my life, as their music changes many peoples' lives.

[LIMS]:: The quality of the photography on display here is astounding. Tell us about the photography gear you were using at the time.

[Paul Saltzman]: I had a relatively inexpensive Pentax, with a 135-mm lens, and a 50-mm lens. I was not a photographer. I was just a tourist who liked taking pictures, so I would like taking my camera on trips. When I was home, I never took pictures. It's just when I went on a trip. (The pictures were good) partly because of the light there, and because they were in a space that was truly and profoundly mellow, and because I didn't want anything from them. When it comes to people that are really famous, their radar has to be pretty high as to when people want something from them, and then there's defenses. I never wanted anything from them, and that was so true that 32 years later when I first did this gallery show with the photography, somebody came up to me and said, "hey Paul, did you get your picture taken with the Beatles?". You could have hit me with a brick. I hadn't thought of my picture with them from the day I had met them, until 32 years later when this person had asked me. I never thought of asking for an autograph. The result was that the pictures are, well, one of the world's leading experts in rock memorabilia, Steven Maycock of Sotheby's auction house in London said that some of these pictures that I happened to take were the best intimate shots that he's ever seen of them. They were in a mellow place. I didn't want anything from them. They accepted me as one of their own, and so the nature of the pictures is really very intimate and candid. The method I used to reproduce them was Giclee printing, as opposed to Cibachrome. Giclee printing is archivally twice as long-lasting as Cibachrome, and it's a little more painter-ly of an image, than a hard photography image. Interestingly enough, I have people coming here today and saying that it feels like they're here. One person was looking at the large 30x40 blow-up of John, and saying that it's like you can feel his soul. So, it's really just the good fortune of all of those things coming together.

[LIMS]: Tell us about how you can be contacted on the internet, and tell us what we'll find when we get there?

[Paul Saltzman]: You can contact us on the internet at www.thebeatlesinrishikesh.com. What you'll find there is all the photographs that we sell. You'll find the story of how it all unfolded. You'll not only find excerpts from the book that was published by Viking Studio Penguin Putnam in October 2000, but you'll find excerpts that didn't make it into the book, which are pretty interesting. And you'll find a way to purchase the pictures, or just communicate with us.

[LIMS]: Fantastic! We thank you very much for sitting with us today. We wish you the very best of luck, and we hope to be seeing you again soon!

[Paul Saltzman]: A pleasure, thank you.
Больше фото на
www.thebeatlesinrishikesh.com

Tom Murray, LBIPP, is the holder of a variety of international awards for his
photography. These include newspaper and magazine assignments, theatre
and advertising, featured cover assignments and specialist portrait
commissions worldwide.
На фото: автор в 60-е годы


Working with some of the world's greatest photographers including
Eve Arnold, Helmut Newton, Lord Snowdon, Norman Parkinson,
Bill Connors, Bill King and Guy Bourdin.


Tom started working as a newspaper photographer - for four years he
tackled every kind of photography from simple portraits and sport
pictures to national murder cases. He went to Africa to work for The
Zambia News and Times. Within a few months he was promoted to
chief photographer. After a while he was offered the top position on the
South African magazine Panorama. It was during this time that Tom was
asked to set up a studio for PACT - the Performing Arts Council of
the Transvaal. During this four year period he won his first World
Press awards for work in music, drama and ballet photography.


On his return to the UK, he was interviewed by Lord Snowdon. Snowdon
recommended that he try for the post of magazine photographer for The
Sunday Times Colour Magazine. This was the top spot on the best and first
Sunday Magazine in London. The five year period at The Sunday Times was
a time of great strides in his photography, working with some of the world's
best photographers. He became the youngest photographer to be commissioned
by The Royal Family, he also took the now world famous Beatles photographs
which are now being shown worldwide thirty years later. That sitting is known
as the 'Summer of 68 - The Mad Day'. These images are considered to be the
best colour photographs of The Beatles in 1968.


Tom's work has appeared in: GQ, French Vogue, Women's Wear
Daily, Harper's & Queen, House & Gardens, Casa Vogue, L.A. Style,
L.A. Times, London Times, London Sunday Times, New York Times, English
and American Vogue, Architectural Digest, The Radio Times, The TV Times
as well as publicity and promotional items for major TV and film companies.


Tom has donated for auction some of his finest works in aid of the
following charities: The Richard Caron Foundation, Project Angel Food,
Save The Children, Friends In Deed and other good causes. Tom's
favourite charity, The Make A Wish Foundation, has received a donation
of a full set of 23 Beatles Mad Day limited editions, two at a time to be
auctioned over the coming years. A book about Tom's famous Beatles
photographs will soon be published.

www.tommurrayphotos.com/

Doug Elbinger
http://www.musecube.com/visualeyes/3942/
Since 1966, Elbingers' photos have appeared in countless books, magazines, newspapers, annual reports, album covers, trade journals, and web sites. Artists, models, politicians, businesspeople,and families everywhere count on Doug to "put them in a good light".
Based in Lansing, Michigan, Doug enjoys working on a global scale. In the last few years Doug has worked in Russia, India, Israel, Belize, Nicaragua, Europe, and extensive travel all over the USA and Canada.

An interview with photographer Harry Benson

by Terry Ott

This interview first appeared in the Nov. 5, 1999 Beatles issue of Goldmine and is reprinted here by the kind permission of author Terry Ott. (Thanks again, Terry!)
Photographer Harry Benson, now 69, had the good fortune in 1964 to be assigned (against his will) to a rising young pop group known as the Beatles. Working for the Exportriate Canadian Lord Beverbrook at the Daily Express in London, Benson was with the group as they exploded on the world stage.

He framed some of the most memorable and unpretentious photographs ever taken of the Fabs. Benson's shots never looked strained, and despite manager Brian Epstein's almost total control over the group's early exposure, Benson managed to manipulate The Beatles to his camera's liking.

From the Paris hotel room where a pillow fight "erupted" at Benson's urging to a Miami Beach gym with another cultural her-to-be by the name of Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Benson captured the essence of the lads. His candid recollections of the meeting with Clay (revealed for the first time in the following interview demonstrate Benson's knack for situational spontaineity, as well as his guts.

From 1964-66, Benson accompanied the Beatles on world tours and personal appearances. Unlike other so-called "fifth Beatle" journalists, he never became part of the entourage. Looking back, Benson believes this is what gave him the advantage over photographers who followed the group as fans.

As his black-and-white photos reveal (Benson never shot the group in color because, in his opinion, 1960s color stock was "shit", John, Paul, George and Ringo never looked anything but fab through Benson's lenses.

Deservedly, 35 years later, Benson's Beatles shutter work is being celebrated in a new book, "The Beatles Now and Then (Universe/Rizzoli) in a tour of art galleries and museums throughout the United States. He remains a working photojournalist with assignments worldwide.

Terry Ott: How did you hook up with the Beatles in January, 1964?

Harry Benson: It was weird. I was going to Africa for the London Daily Express to do a story in Kenya one year after the independence. And then I got a call that night saying the editor wants me to go with the Beatles, who were going on their first trip to France. I thought, "Oh, Christ. I don't want to go with a rock group." You know, I'm a serious journalist. Anyway, I talked them out of it, or so I thought. About five minutes later, the phone rang again and they said, "You're going with the Beatles."

What were your first impressions of the Fabs?

As people, they were very nice. And the first time I heard them play, I knew I was on the right job. The music was sensational. They had a gig in a suburb outside of Paris. I always remember Paul McCartney saying to the fans, "Come on, give us a cheer, we need confidence." Because at that point, the fans hadn't started screaming yet.

Who was the most photogenic Beatle?

Paul was the cutest, but I would say the most photogenic was John Lennon. When he was young, you know, he had a very refined nose and if you look at it, very fine features. But you couldn't get anything done without Paul. You could take a picture of three Beatles, but Paul had to be one of them.

What was your most memorable experience with the Beatles?

The most memorable for me was when we went down to Miami (after "The Ed Sullivan Show") with Cassius Clay. I had this idea of taking the Beatles to meet Clay because he was a big mouth, always doing funny things. So I went to see the Beatles and they said no. Lennon said they wanted to see Sonny Liston (who was fighting Clay for the heavyweight title on Feb. 25) because Clay was gonna get beaten by Liston. I went to see Liston, who didn't even look at me, but told me he didn't want to see "those bums." So I went back to the Beatles, who still thought they were going to see Liston. I took them to see Clay, who made them do all kinds of things. He had them manipulated. Do this, do that. Who's the greatest? Who's the best-looking? He had them lying on the ring floor. Afterwards, Lennon said to me, "You made us look like fools." Because, you know, the Beatles were so cool. Nobody made them look silly. They were the coolest ones. But Clay was way ahead of them in intellect. Don't believe the nonsense (reported several times after the photos appeared) that Clay had no idea who the Beatles were. He knew all about them. Afterwards, the Beatles wouldn't speak to me for a month.

How did the famous "pillow fight" shots take place?

We were sitting around, late at night in the hotel room in Paris, and Brian Epstein comes in with a cable to say, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is #1 in the United States. I suggested, "How about a pillow fight?" And Lennon said, "No, that's stupid. It's childish. We don't want to be made to look like adolescents." Paul agreed with that and the other two kind of nodded. I remember this as me being put in my place. But as Paul was sitting there drinking a whisky -- they were always drinking -- John comes up behind him and bangs him right across the back of the head (with a pillow) and that was it.

Through the years, the Beatles' first American concert at Carnegie Hall has taken on almost mythical significance. What was your recollection?

It was too sedate. Too precious. I remember thinking it wasn't raucous enough. The audience was too high brow. It was no big deal, you know.

You have said it was fun in the early days before world weariness set in.

Well, they started to go off to India, and that's where I left them. I could have gone, but I didn't want to. When I came to America with them, I didn't come just to be a rock photographer. So I was then doing things on civil rights and being what I really wanted to be, a photojournalist. I'm not knocking it because the Beatles were very important in my whole career. I don't think I would have come to America without the Beatles and got out of the British sort of newspaper status quot kind of thing.

Why did you get along with the Beatles so well?

I got along with them because I wasn't hanging around them every minute. A lot of photographers and writers became kind of groupies with them, and then the Beatles got rude with them.

What are your feelings on the acclaim your photos from 35 years ago are receiving today?

Well, when I set out, when I started to do them, it wasn't to do a book. It wasn't to do museums. It was to stay on the payroll. at the end of the week. It was to have a fuckin' job. That was my whole thing. But professionally, it does make me feel I had my wits about me and I did it well. Looking back over my career, there are things I didn't do well, things I missed. But the Beatles I did well. The pictures hold up because they weren't forced liked a lot of the pictures of the Beatles were at the time.

What are some of your memories from the 1964 American Beatle shows?

My favorite was "The Ed Sullivan Show," but that was not really a concert. I remember places like Memphis where the police never knew what the hell hit them. They thought they could handle all the kids. The Beatles would be laughing up a storm about it afterwards. They had warned the police of what could happen, but they said they could handle everything. And they couldn't. The kids were all over the place. And Lennon used to make jokes about spastic fans. He used to mimic them, and McCartney would tell him to cut it out. He didn't like it. I also remember the February Washington concert. (The Beatles refused to fly to D.C. due to the "fookin' blizzard" and took a wild train ride instead.) It was a freezing cold night and afterwards, we were invited to the British ambassador's residence and the staff behaved awful. They called the Beatles "yobs (British slang for lower class) from Liverpool." It was rude, and the ambassador later apologized. But the concert itself was pretty good. Pretty refined compared to what was to come.
http://www.themajestic.com/casa/gallery/benson.htm

Robert Whitaker at The National Gallery Victoria.

Copyright © Robert Whitaker - These images remain the property of the Photographer.

These images are not to be downloaded, used or displayed in public without express permission.

Although English by birth, it was in Melbourne that Robert Whitaker first met the Beatles, on their 1964 Australian tour. He had come to Melbourne in 1961 and was working as a freelance photographer, with studios in Flinders Lane, when he photographed Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, for an article for the Jewish News. " I photographed Epstein, saw he was a bit of a peacock and a cavalier, and put peacock feathers around his head in photographic relief ", Whitaker recalls. " He was knocked out when he saw the picture. After that, he saw an exhibition of collages I had at the Museum of Modern Art and immediately offered me the position of staff photographer at NEMS, photographing all his artists. I initially turned it down, but after seeing the Beatles perform at Festival Hall I was overwhelmed by all the screaming fans and I decided to accept the offer to return to England ".




Art historian, David Mellor, believes that Whitaker's three-year absence from London had transformed him as a photographer. In Australia Whitaker, through his connection with Georges and Mirka Mora, had mixed with senior artists Arthur Boyd, John Percival and Charles Blackman, as well as his own peer group, Martin Sharp, Richard Neville, Barry Humphries and Germaine Greer. " Bob setting to work with the Beatles was a real breakthrough ", Martin Sharp recalls. " When Richard Neville and I left for England, Bob was on the TOP or my list of people to contact, ". (Whitaker and Sharp were to collaborate on the cover of the Cream's Disraeli Gears album, as well as the first few issues of Oz Magazine, with Richard Neville.)

On his arrival back in England in August 1964, Whitaker went to work photographing the likes of Billy J. Kramer, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilia Black, but it was with the Beatles that he produced his most creative work. He became especially friendly with John Lennon and, in one 1965 picture, represented Lennon with a dandelion sprouting from one eye and as Narcissus, enchanted by his own reflection. In this image Whitaker reflected his own indebtedness to the surrealist, Salvador Dali.

And so it was to Surrealism that Whitaker turned once again for inspiration for his most famous shot. Meret Oppenheim's, Lunch In Fur, a cup and saucer and spoon made out of fur, provided the inspiration for the notorious " Butcher's Sleeve ". " It's an apparent switch-around of how you think ", Whitaker says. " Can you Imagine actually drinking out of a fur tea cup ? I did a photograph of the Beatles covered in raw meat, dolls and false teeth. Putting meat, dolls and false teeth with tne Beafles is essentially part of the same thing, the breakdown cf what is regarded as normal. The actual conception for what I still call " Somnambulant Adventure " was Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with the 10 Commandments. He comes across people worshipping a golden calf. All over the world I'd watched people worshipping like idols, like gods, four Beatles, To me they were just stock standard normal people. But this emotion that fans poured on them made me wonder where Christianity was heading ".

Having finished that particular picture, it was snatched away from me and sent off to America. It was reproduced as a record cover without ever having the artwork completed by me. The cover layout was somebody else's conception. It was a good idea to ban it at the time, because it made no sense at all. It was just this rather horrific image of four Beatles, whom everybody loved, covered in raw meat, the arms, legs and torsos of dolls, and false teeth. But they are only objects placed on the Beatles, rather like making a movie. I mean what you want to read into it is entirely up to you. I was trying to show that the Beatles were flesh and blood ", he states.

Whitaker remembers that when the album, Yesterday and Today, was first distributed to the various radio stations " there was a fairly large outcry from DJs who were saying we're almost retching with disgust from this picture. I repeat that the cover was an unfinished concept. It was just one of a series of photographs that would have made up a gate-fold cover. Behind the head of each Beatle would have been a golden halo and in the halo would have been placed a semi-precious stone. Then the background would have contained more gold, so it was rather like a Russian icon. It was just after John Lennon had said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. In a material world that was an extremely true statement, " he comments.

Whitaker's " stolen " photograph was first published on the cover of Disc, in June 1966, with the headline, " Beatles: What a Carve-up ", before the decision was taken to use it on the album sleeve. Philip Norman, in his book, Shout claims that Brian Epstein had " misgivings " about the picture, claiming it would disrupt his carefully codified image of the Beatles, but the band overruled him. According to John Lennon, the " Butcher's Cover " was inspired by " our boredom and resentment at having to do another photo session and another Beatles' thing. We were sick to death of it. Bob (Whitaker) was into Dali and making surreal pictures. That combination produced the cover ".

Whitaker remembers that " John played with all sorts of bits and pieces before we actually did the picture. 1 did a few outtake pictures which were of them actually playing with a box full of dolls which they pulled out and stuck all over themselves. There was an enormous amount of laughter. There was even George Harrison banging nails into John's head with a hammer. The actual conception of what is termed the " Butcher's Sleeve " is a reasonably diverse piece of thinking, " he boasts, adding that it was something Lennon was talking about right up to his death in 1980. Asked whether it was a gratuitous image at the time it was banned, Lennon had replied that it was " as relevant as Vietnam. "

The Beatles' American albums on Capitol were not simply duplicates of EMI's English releases. They were collections of material culled from the Beatles' previously-released British albums, selected and packaged by Capitol specially for the American market. Yesterday and Today included songs from the Help! and Rubber Soul LP's, plus. unusually, four songs from Revolver, which was not be released in Britain for another three weeks. And, as Philip Norman points out, any promise of gentle nostalgia, contained in the title of this hybrid. Yesterday and Today was quickly dispelled by the full-cover sleeve on which the Beatles, " wearing white butchers' overalls, nursed dismembered and decapitated toy dolls and brandished bloody bits of meat ".




There are varying estimates as to how many copies of the album sleeve wore printed and distributed, In a recent conversation with me, Whitaker put the number at 250,000. Other sources range from as high as 750,000 to as low as 6,000. But what is certain is that, once the complaints began Capitol Records reacted swiftly and, in a single weekend, all copies of the album still available (it is estimated that 25,000 copies were sold retail) and all promotional material featuring the butcher photo were recalled. A specially convened staff spent the weekend taking each disc from the " butcher sleeve " and placing it in the new sleeve. In the official letter of recall, dated June 14th, 1966, Alan W. Livingston, President of Capitol Records, is quoted as saying:

" The original cover, created in England, was intended as a `pop art' satire. However a sampling of public opinion in the United States indicates that the cover design is subject to misinterpretation. For this reason, and to avoid any possible controversy or undeserved harm to the Beatles' image or reputation, Capitol has chosen to withdraw the LP and substitute a more generally acceptable design. "

The offending photo was replaced by a seemingly innocent shot of the Beatles in a hotel room, gathered around a cabin trunk. Several thousand of the butcher covers were destroyed and replaced by the cabin trunk, but, in the long run, Capitol decided that it was far more economical to simply paste the new cover photo over the old one. Once that news got out, Beatle fans across America could be found beavering away in their kitchens steaming cabin trunk photos off of their copies of Yesterday and Today in the hope of finding the original, rare butcher cover underneath.

Many collectors believe that the butcher cover is still one of the most sought-after pieces of Beatle memorabilia. Brendan Pearse, former owner of the Beatles' Shop in Melbourne, agrees- " The best thing I've ever sold is an unpeeled butcher cover ", he says. It's not the greatest price I've ever sold anything for. It was just the fact that it was a brand new unpeeled butcher cover that had been sitting in a record shop for 25 years. It was in pristine condition. The actual record had not been played. We sold that for $2000 to Japan. According to Harrison, " it is the definitive Beatles' collectible. " And Whitaker himself relates the story of the woman who came up to him with an unpeeled cover in the US, had him autograph it, and promptly sold it for US$40,000.

In 1991, after almost 20 years in " retirement ", farming in Sussex, Whitaker triumphantly exhumed some of his previously unpublished photographs of the Beatles for his book, simply titled The Unseen Beatles. And a touring exhibition of his photographs from the 1 960s, Underground London, which includes photographs of the individual Beatles as well as shots from the " Butcher's Sleeve " session, will commence at The National Gallery of Victoria this month, before heading to America for a two-year tour there.

All the while his ongoing battle with Apple Corps as to who owns the rights to the " Butcher's Sleeve " picture remains unresolved. Apple Corps have attempted to " censor " the picture, telling Whitaker they do not want the image reproduced as a book cover, postcard, poster, " virtually in no form whatsoever, " he says. Whitaker was so incensed with Apple Corps that, at one stage, he considered making an enormous print of the " Butcher's Sleeve " for his Underground London exhibition and putting it behind closed doors so that people would have to file in one at a time. " One story I heard from the record company was that the dolls in the picture could upset the paedophiles, " he laughs. Whitaker is currently working with Peter Blake (designer of the Sgt Pepper sleeve) on a fuIl~scaIe recreation of his idea for " Somnambulant Adventure ", to be exhibited in London next year.

Apple Corps have now established their own photo library from which they oversee distribution of copyright Beatle material around the world. According to Derek Taylor, Apple Corps' long-serving press boss, " the person who might know who has the actual copyright to the " Butcher's Sleeve " picture is not yet born " Taylor was once described as encouraging a " kind of benevolent anarchy to develop " at Apple when it first started, and it seems that this stilt may be the case. Acknowledging that Whitaker was employed by Epstein at the time he took the picture, which he feels gives Apple the legal copyright, Taylor recognises that it was Whitaker " who took the picture, who thought of the idea, and that would give him a proprietary moral right. " Taylor adds that although he has never personally enjoyed the picture " it has its place in history for it is part of the (Beatles) story. As a piece of Beatles' art it has its place on the wall, " he laughs. Interestingly, E.M.I. released a picture-disc single of Paperback Writer / Rain in 1985 with THAT photograph as the picture on the disc-

Taylor is less adamant than Whitaker that all the Beatles enjoyed taking part in the session, stating that " George still doesn't like it. " (Harrison, incidentally, is a Director of Apple Corps, and a vegetarian). But Taylor still believes that things went to far with the banning of the cover and finds its replacement less innocuous than it seems. " I mean which is worse, Beatles with meat all over them, or four Beatles in a trunk in a hotel room. If you really think about it what would they be doing in a trunk "? Whitaker agrees. " I made that dumb ass photo of the Beatles with the trunk in Brian Epstein’s office when we were all in Argyll Street, next door to the London Palladium. Derek is right. It was far more stupid than anything else I could think of. The trunk was to hand in the office, so I thought that by putting the light meter in the picture it might convey an idea of the speed of light running so fast that it shot straight back up your " arse ". It was just to see what could become a record cover ".

In three short years, between 1964 and 1966, Robert Whitaker managed to compile an remarkable photographic dossier on the 20th century's most astounding musical phenomenon. His Unseen Beatles offers an extraordinarily personalised insider's view of a very private world, while many more negatives await retrieval from his Sussex barn. And, for a time it seemed that even his battle with Apple Corps might have ended, with Managing Director, Neil Aspinall, negotiating with him over use of 300 of his images of the Beatles in the recent television documentary, Anthology " On one day Neil Aspinall is offering me 80,000 pounds for the use of my pictures in his Anthology of the Beatles, chatting about their past around the table of an English pub, " Whitaker asserts, " The next day Aspinall phones to say that he thinks I should give the Anthology all the pictures for nothing, having spent six months deciding which images should be reprinted, retouched and repaired. We the Beatles own Whitaker's life. Needless to say, they got nothing, " he concludes wryly. Now, hot on the heels of the success of Underground London, the " one part Aussie lad ", as Whitaker calls himself (according to Whitaker, his grandfather built Princes Bridge in Melbourne), is about to start work on his own series of CD Roms of his photographs of the 1980's, including almost every image he took of the Beatles.

Robert Whitaker's exhibition, Underground London, at the National Gallery of Victoria from December 11 to January 27, provides a rare insight into a life that most of us could have only dreamed about.. As Whitaker himself has stated, " there were about 100 people who ran the Sixties ". He was lucky enough to meet and photograph them all. The intimacy that he extracted from his subjects is staggering. During the second half of the 1960s, Whitaker thrived at the core of London underground culture, where he worked with such figures as Eric Clapton (and the Cream), Germaine Greer and Martin Sharp (on Oz Magazine) and Mick Jagger (on the film sets of Pefformanco and Ned Kelly) Looking for further challenges, he covered major world events for Time and Life Magazines, including the Florence floods and the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam. Underground London is a unique opportunity to share the Swinging Sixties with someone whose vision went some way to exploring the political undercurrents of the time.

Roger Taylor
November, 1998.

Roger Taylor is a Melbourne-based writer and broadcaster. His radio program, High & Low. is broadcast weekly on 3RRR-FM, Wednesdays at 1.00 PM. he is an editorial correspondent for World Art and has published widely in magazines such as Asian Art News, Asia-Pacific Sculpture News and Art New Zealand.
http://www.art-gallery.com.au/whatshot/beatles/beatles.html

http://home.clara.net/digger/sixties/beatles2.htm
Tom Murray Interview & Photos

Photographer Tom Murray landed a dream assignment
in July 1968. He was asked to accompany Don McCullin
on a photo shoot. He had no idea that the subject of
the day’s session was to be the decade’s biggest
icons, The Beatles. Nevertheless he kept his composure
and produced some fine work that day, some 23 pictures
in all of The Beatles in various impromptu locations around
London. The day after, The Beatles recorded Hey Jude.
These photos were processed and printed and
then, incredibly and somewhat mysteriously, locked in a
bank vault for over thirty years. Tom has 250 of each
and has now made these photographs available as
limited editions, available for sale worldwide.
Tom agreed kindly to talk about his life and work
and about the day he photographed The Beatles.



Photographer Tom Murray ( above ) has worked with:
Elizabeth Taylor, Yvonne De Carlo, Richard Burton,
Jill St. John, Sir Hardy Aimes, Giorgio Armani,
Angelica Huston, Elizabeth Montgomery, Dirk Bogarde,
Dustin Hoffman, John Huston, John Schlesinger,
Pierre Cardin, Calvin Klein, Michael York,
George Cukor, Ralph Lauren, Luchino Visconti,
John Weitz, Anthony Andrews, Ian McShane,
Kate Nelligan, David Lean, Caspar Weinberger,
Lindsay Anderson, H.R.H. Princess Margaret
and, of course, The Beatles



The Interview

Digger: It’s a great story Tom. Have the photos really
been locked away for all this time?

Tom: Yes. When I was working for the Sunday Times
magazine, one of the world's greatest photographers,
Eve Arnold, told me to keep the best images for my
old age pension. This started me culling all of my
images down to the very best. I kept them in separate
files. My London studio had a fire and many of my
Africa images were damaged beyond repair. They
resisted the heat but not the water. After this I
put some of my best work into a bank. I probably
have less than 200 negatives and slides in the bank.
These are now the creme de la creme of my work.
The 23 Beatles images are the most valuable.



Digger: Did you literally have no idea who you were
going to photo that day?

Tom: Don McCullin only asked me to drive him around
and to help with his gear. This kind of shoot was totally
different from his usual gritty black and white images
and his great war work. I travelled to my parents'
home in Suffolk to collect my pride and joy, a red
XK150 Jaguar. I lived in Brynston square in London
and couldn't park so I kept the car in Suffolk. Don
never told me who we were shooting. He said on the day -
"Bring along your camera - you might get some nice snaps".
Boy, was he right.



Digger: What were your thoughts when you realised
it was The Beatles and did you have trouble
keeping cool and ‘focused’ on the job in hand?

Tom: I had at the time of the shoot been a photographer
for 9 years, including working in Africa. I was thrilled
and excited when I saw who we were photographing. It was
easy to keep cool once the camera came up to my eye.
The problem was I only had two rolls of colour film,
no flash, no tripod and one camera. Today I do most of
my own work in black & white, my paid work is 99%
colour. On this occasion Don McCullin was shooting
black & white, luckily I shot in colour.

Digger: Can you take us through that day?
How did the shoot progress and how did you
manage to get the various poses?

Tom: It would take a whole chapter of a book to tell of
the day. Don McCullin took charge of the shoot and
I realised that I had a unique opportunity to shoot what
I wanted and what looked great to me. It's a photographer's
dream to be free to shoot what they want: no brief,
no instructions and no restrictions.

The Beatles were great to get on with. I had a running
gag with Paul, where he would look over to see if I was
watching and do a quick pose. I watched him out of the
corner of my eye and would get great spontaneous shots.

The spookiest shot was down by the Thames. John dropped
to the ground, pretending to be dead. The Beatles
laughed. No shot for me. Then they went deadly serious,
John had his eyes open and the Beatles looked on with
very serious expressions. One frame for me. George put
on John's glasses and John closed his eyes. Another shot
for me. The whole incident was over in seconds. Little
did I know that years later I would be in New York
when John was shot. My photo was considered by Time
for the cover but it was deemed too spooky.



Digger: What were the highlights for you of that
Beatles photo shoot?

Tom: The highlights were the total fun of the day.
The Beatles were great, but then I was the third set
of eyes. This is why I feel that people say I have
the finest set of colour images of that day.



Digger: Who was the most cooperative Beatle,
who photographed the best and which was your
favourite of the fab four on that day?

Tom: One of my favourite pictures is a solo portrait
of George, which was printed for the first time ever
for my exhibition in London. I always knew it was a
great shot, but when I saw it for the first time,
Sky news were filming me seeing the prints and I did
get goosebumps at this fabulous photo. The other one is
Paul, Ringo and Martha, his lovely dog. I never knew
that Martha was the one he wrote the song
'Martha My Dear' for.



Digger: What Beatles albums do you have in
your collection?

Tom: I no longer have a Beatles collection because
I wore out my original records. My tapes have been
gobbled up by car stereos over the years. I was given
one compilation of tracks for Christmas.

Digger: What camera and what tricks and
techniques did you utilise that day?

Tom: I used, on the day of the shoot, a Nikon F. 35mm
camera and Kodak Ektachrome film. No tricks, no flash
techniques. I've been fortunate in working with some of
the best photographers in the world. I have a good eye.



Digger: Is there anything you would change
about the work you did on that day?

Tom: On the day, had I known, I would have taken
more equipment, more cameras and more lenses, and
probably have lost the spontaneity that makes my
shots look so great. They always say less is more.



Digger: Were you bothered by any fans
during the shoot?

Tom: The fans were very well behaved, but we could
not stay long at any location due to fans arriving in
droves. The grapevine was working overtime. Down at
the Thames, we were about to leave to go to Paul's house
in St. John's Wood and we could hear this drumming.
It was the fans running along the cobbled streets in our
direction. When we arrived at Paul's house, there were
girls waiting outside. I wonder where they are today and
what they must have thought when the 'Fab Four' drove up.



Digger: Is it true that the tramp featured
in one of the shots was totally unaware of the
presence of pop royalty and of his inclusion
in a piece of pop history?

Tom: The tramp never knew who was sitting around
him as he slept through the whole shoot. I wonder
if he is still alive today.



Digger: Are there any other photos locked away that
we should know about?

Tom: Sadly, I destroyed the other slides from that day
...but I kept the best.

Digger: Is it possible that these photos will appear
in book form?

Tom: Now that I have brought The Beatles pictures
out of the vault, who knows what will happen. I will
probably do a series of editions. One thing I am doing is
donating one print of each image to the 'Make A Wish'
foundation.They grant the wishes of very sick children. It
is a very worthy cause and one I am very proud of. I also
donated several prints to 'Project Angel Food', an AIDS
charity in Los Angeles.



Digger: What was the mood of The Beatles on that day?
Were they in high spirits or was it just another job?

Tom: The guys were in a great mood. Yoko made suggestions
to Don, but left me alone. The Beatles had lots of their own
ideas. It was a super shoot and great fun. I certainly enjoyed
myself. The previous week, I had taken a girlfriend of mine
on a car shoot for Rolls Royce. The weather was awful and we
were very cold and wet, a typical summer's day. She said no...
she nearly died when I told her who I had photographed.



Digger: Have your paths crossed at all since?

Tom: No, never again.



Digger: You have photographed many famous people
over the years – Elizabeth Taylor, Dustin Hoffman,
pop stars. How did The Beatles compare?

Tom: Many of the Hollywood stars that I have photographed
since have all had an impact on my career. I have found
that the bigger the star, the kinder they were to me. I
gained their trust and I never let out any photographs of
any stars that I did not like.



Digger: What have been the favourite assignments
of your career?

Tom: I love photographing people but I am very nervous
before any photoshoot. I used to be sick prior to big shoots.
I have had a fabulous career and met many wonderful
people from all walks of life. I get well paid for having
fun, but I am always anxious to do the best photos that I can,
regardless if I am being paid £1 or £2,000.



Digger: What sort of work have you been doing in
more recent years?

Tom: In the USA, I did fashion work for top designers
such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, magazine covers for
Vogue, Time, GQ, Menswear, etc. I also did many first class
catalogues. You get paid well to make the clothes look great
and they are fun shoots. I try to keep the whole sitting
relaxed and fun for everyone. I chatter away and try to
get everyone to relax. That's when the great pictures come.



Digger: What advice would you give to youngsters
starting out in photography these days?

Tom: For anyone wanting to get into photography, acting,
films or anything else, try, try, try. Better to have tried
than be sitting in a chair at eighty saying, "I wish I'd tried..."



Digger: What are your impressions and
recollections of the 1960s?

Tom: I was really lucky I was in London for the 60s and
part of the 70s, New York for the 70s and 80s, then L.A.
for the 80s and 90s and now back here in the U.K.,
although I do travel to the states a great deal.

The 60s were great and everything was happening in London.
The hipster velvet trousers, Tommy Roberts' store, uniforms
for everyday wear, The Beatles and The Stones, The Kings
Road, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, my Jag, then the Lotus, the
Bentley and finally the Ferrari. Racing up Park Lane late at
night with Justin and Twiggy in his Lamborghini. Me in the
Ferrari. London was really swinging, the music was great. All
the top restaurants and Biba, etc.



Digger: Is digital photographic technology improving
results & standards or is it having the opposite impact?

Tom: Digital photography will have a huge impact on the
actual production of photographs. You'll still need a
good eye and a love of the light to create great pictures.
Photography has become rather sloppy and it can be changed
in the computer, but it would be better to get it right in the
camera. Sadly, in the U.K. many colleges and universities
do not want to have photographers to teach photography.
Many of these courses teach everything about photography
except how to take pictures and run a business in the real
world.



Digger: What do you think photographers and
musicians in the 1960s would have made of digital
cameras, dvds, cds, the internet and digital
remastering of music?

Tom: Technology should help and enhance both
photographers and musicians. Good music will be
created by talented people from all countries and
all walks of life.



Digger: How would you describe the impact
and legacy of the 1960s?

Tom: The 60s were a time when the youth of the day
found that we have a voice, we can make a difference
and we have so many opportunities if you grab every
one that comes along. It's the old try, try again ethos.



Digger: Where do you see photography going
in the future?

Tom: Photography is the eyes of the past and present.
It's our legacy, the written word opened one door,
photography, including film and tv is a giant window
into today's world, good and bad.



Digger: What did The Beatles mean to you?

Tom: The Beatles are probably the most famous
four people in the world. Their music is played somewhere
in the world every second of every minute 365 days
a year. What a great legacy to leave for future study.



Digger: What was it like being one of the
1960s ‘in-crowd’?

Tom: The sixties were great fun for me. I had one of the
plum jobs in London and I was the youngest photographer
ever commissioned by the Royal Family. I travelled all over
the world and I had a great time. London was the place to
be. Paris was a few hours away and I spent my holidays in
St. Tropez and Rome.



Digger: You do photographic workshops.
How does someone join one of these?
What are your plans for the future?

Tom: I have just returned from lecturing to 180 photographers
in Cyprus. I normally lecture in the States and in the U.K.
people tell me I am over-qualified. It's only taken me 40
years to get to be over-qualified. I love telling people
what I do, sharing how I do my work. I have no secrets
except a love of photography and the God given light
that makes it work.

At the moment of speaking I have been trying for a
teaching position, as I feel I should pass on much of the
information I have learnt over 40 years. Further plans for
The Beatles pictures are in the pipeline. I will keep
you informed via this website. I might be going to work
in Singapore, which would be fabulous. As you can see,
I have itchy feet.

http://www.nemsworld.com/beatles/
Где-то я уже давала эту ссылку.
Неплохой сайт посвященный фотосессиям.

Harry Benson: Once There Was A Way Back Home
By Connor Leighton
Nov 1, 2000
Though he might not be bigger than Jesus, Harry Benson’s omnipresent photography brings the world to a standstill, breathing life into slices of history. In order to capture these moments, he’s endured many of his own “calculated risks” (as opposed to “idiotic chances”). More than anything, Benson guides history with his pictures by “getting at the center of the story, not the edges.” That, or he mostly just enjoys “having fun with the reporters.”

As a photojournalist for such magazines as Life and The Daily Express, his life reads like an epic adventure novel. Born in Glasgow amid the drama of war and bombs dropping overhead, he managed to escape through the “magic” lens of a camera. During the civil war in the Dominican Republic, he was captured by both sides in one day. He has photographed every US president since Eisenhower. He caught the horror on Ethel Kennedy’s face in the Ambassador Hotel after her husband had been shot. He’s made a career from being in the “right” place at the “right” time, however frightening, sad, joyful, comical, the situation may be. Benson seems to be everywhere at once.

There may be a good picture there, but you don’t know until you open the door. The great picture might be two blocks away. People give up too easily. You have to fight your way through the setbacks, and there are always setbacks. But also don’t be satisfied with something for too long; I come down very quickly because there are always more pictures to take tomorrow.”

Harry’s curious fortune struck again when he was given a particular assignment in 1964, 40 years ago––The Beatles were coming to America. He might not have been excited at first about following these four guys around (more a fan of Tony Bennett), but once he heard those catchy tunes at a gig in Paris, he was “completely sold.” This sent Benson’s life in a completely new direction because once he came to America he never went back.

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Harry Benson: Once There Was A Way Back Home
By Connor Leighton
Nov 1, 2000

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©Harry Benson
Though he might not be bigger than Jesus, Harry Benson’s omnipresent photography brings the world to a standstill, breathing life into slices of history. In order to capture these moments, he’s endured many of his own “calculated risks” (as opposed to “idiotic chances”). More than anything, Benson guides history with his pictures by “getting at the center of the story, not the edges.” That, or he mostly just enjoys “having fun with the reporters.”

As a photojournalist for such magazines as Life and The Daily Express, his life reads like an epic adventure novel. Born in Glasgow amid the drama of war and bombs dropping overhead, he managed to escape through the “magic” lens of a camera. During the civil war in the Dominican Republic, he was captured by both sides in one day. He has photographed every US president since Eisenhower. He caught the horror on Ethel Kennedy’s face in the Ambassador Hotel after her husband had been shot. He’s made a career from being in the “right” place at the “right” time, however frightening, sad, joyful, comical, the situation may be. Benson seems to be everywhere at once.


©Harry Benson
“There may be a good picture there, but you don’t know until you open the door. The great picture might be two blocks away. People give up too easily. You have to fight your way through the setbacks, and there are always setbacks. But also don’t be satisfied with something for too long; I come down very quickly because there are always more pictures to take tomorrow.”

Harry’s curious fortune struck again when he was given a particular assignment in 1964, 40 years ago––The Beatles were coming to America. He might not have been excited at first about following these four guys around (more a fan of Tony Bennett), but once he heard those catchy tunes at a gig in Paris, he was “completely sold.” This sent Benson’s life in a completely new direction because once he came to America he never went back.


©Harry Benson
“I like a picture to move, something that catches the eye,” he tells me. “I still haven’t taken my best pictures, but for me it won’t get better than the pillow fight.” The Beatles had just been informed that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” had hit No. 1 on the US charts. Clearly, everyone was ecstatic.

I mention the Muhammed Ali picture and Harry laughs. “They were expecting Sonny Liston, not this ‘loud mouth.’ They weren’t too happy about that.” However, with Cassius Clay going on to defeat Liston (twice), the iconic juxtaposition turned out to be pure genius.

It’s this motion and spontaneity in Benson’s work that allows such a penetrating glimpse into his subjects' emotions and states-of-mind, whether it’s The Fab Four, Cassius Clay, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, or a mourning girl passing by Martin Luther King, Jr’s open casket.

The studio was obviously no place for Benson’s impulsive, hard-nosed attitude toward photography. “I don’t care about 9-5. There are no schedules. You might even have to go out in the rain. Otherwise, it’s too repetitive, everything’s the same––the lighting, the atmosphere, the mood. I want people to look like what they think they are, not what I think they are.”

In his new book, Once There Was A Way: Photographs of the Beatles by Harry Benson, you can follow The Beatles from their arrival in the USA and the Ed Sullivan show to the set of “A Hard Day’s Night.” Witness them in their moments of collective bliss and personal solitude, with the colorful aura of the Beatles flawlessly captured in this dazzling collection, a must for photography and Beatles fans alike.
Published in October 2003 (this month) by Harry Abrams, this will already be the second printing for Once There Was A Way in English and Italian. There is also a limited edition boxed set of 12 images of the Beatles never offered before to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Beatles coming to America. For more information, email 20photo@bellsouth.net or call 561-805-9550.

Don’t miss Harry Benson’s website harrybenson.com and his upcoming one-man exhibitions:

Dec. 17-21, 2003 Christie’s New York

Feb. 5-May 6, 2004 Norton Museum of Art, Palm
Beach, Florida

Nov. 28, 2003-Jan. 11, 2004 Monroe Gallery of Photography,
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Also, Harry will be a speaker at PhotoLA on Saturday, January 17, and will be holding a one-man exhibit and Beatles book signing at Apex Fine Art in Los Angeles, opening on January 16, 2004 for several weeks. Don't miss out on your opportunity.

© Copyright 2004 by Photoworkshop.com

Jürgen Vollmer
http://www.thei.aust.com/arts98/iginvollmer.html