Paul McCartney was good at photography too

A new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum showcases hundreds of his artful shots taken during the Beatles’ meteoric rise in 1963-64

By Gabe Friedman

Photos taken by Paul McCartney in the Beatles’ early years? Sure, you’re thinking — that’s a fun concept, but the snapshots probably won’t be as artfully crafted as his music.

Think again.

Just as he was a student of songwriting, McCartney was a student of photography, says Catherine Futter, curator of an exhibit of his photographs that opens May 3 at the Brooklyn Museum.

“He was learning techniques from many of the great photographers of the late 50s and 60s,” says Futter. “Harry Benson, Robert Freeman was a big influence. But even the press photographers — I gather he would ask them about lenses and exposure times and all those kinds of things.”

“Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,” which runs until mid-August, is a collection of hundreds of images McCartney snapped on a Pentax handheld during those two crucial years, when the Beatles blew up in England and subsequently became global superstars. Macca was constantly taking photos — of hotel rooms, of backstage views, even of other photographers with their lenses trained on him — as the Beatles toured around Europe and made their way to the United States. The exhibit captures the U.S. scene in three specific tour stops: New York City, Washington, D.C. and Miami.

But it’s far from just a summary of the glitz and glam. As much as he liked capturing his bandmates, McCartney was especially interested in people around the edges of the group who were never in the public spotlight: roadies, their manager Brian Epstein, an early girlfriend and her family, random people he saw out of the windows of trains and cars.

There is plenty of fun though, as McCartney strove to show how famously chummy the boys from Liverpool were offstage. There are also plenty of what these days might be called thirst traps — John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr looking off camera in sultry poses. (A sizable chunk of the exhibit could also be called “Ringo Looking Bored.”)

All of the images are artfully composed, never overcrowded. Most are in black and white, but McCartney purposefully switched to color upon arrival in Miami; the switch is a rousing one for those roaming the exhibit, and it’s a choice that makes clear that McCartney was art directing himself at all times.

In total, the exhibit makes for an new experience even for the biggest Beatles nerd: there’s never-before-seen documentation of some of the band’s biggest moments; there’s the thrill of seeing the the world through McCartney’s eyes, in a new artistic medium; and it’s a new kind of time capsule of an exciting time period in American history.

“There’s a good balance between him really recording in real time what’s going on, and the feelings and the emotions of the time,” Futter says.

The exhibition spans several rooms of the museum’s fifth floor, but the photos shown are apparently just a fraction of McCartney’s archive. They had all been kept in storage until the pandemic, when he and his photo curator Sarah Brown were preparing an exhibition of McCartney’s first wife Linda Eastman’s photographs. As soon as he mentioned them, Brown knew that she was about to stumble upon buried treasure.

They found his original contact sheets, some with markings that show they were turned into prints. The pair chose their favorite 280 or so and had them developed. A fun touch is that many of the final products are marked with X’s — noting which ones McCartney liked back during the time he took them.

A slightly different version of the exhibit debuted at the National Portrait Gallery in London last year.

“When it came to New York, we felt it was very important to really expand the experience of being the Beatles being in New York, because New York was not only important later on in their career, but really important in that moment playing at ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’,” Futter said.

Said show, in February 1964, is marked as the moment Beatlemania exploded across the world, as the program reached tens of millions of TV viewers. An entire room of the exhibit details the days leading up to the performance (George was under the weather).

Some people involved in McCartney’s photographic journey showed up at the exhibit’s debut party on Wednesday night, including Benson, who is 94. Also there, according to Futter, was someone McCartney took out on a date while on the Miami tour stop.

“Some people are still recognizing themselves in these photographs, given that it’s the first time [they’ve been shown] — or you know, that their mother was there. So it’s descendants as well,” she says.

“I think there’s the nostalgia part,” she adds, talking about the lure of the exhibit. “But then there’s also the appreciation for somebody with a really good eye.”

“Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm” will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum through August 18. 200 Eastern Parkway. General admission prices vary, up to $20.