The Beatles’ rise to international stardom seen from Paul McCartney’s camera

In the 60s the Beatles became a phenomenon that broke boundaries by making their music sound almost in unison throughout the world and Paul MCCARTNEY He captured with his 35 mm Pentax camera how the band lived that moment, everyday images that are now part of the ‘Eyes of the Storm’ exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

Between 1963 and 1964, when the Beatles They made their first tour to the United States, McCartney took more than 250 photos, of which many were backstage images of musicians tuning their instruments, of his bandmates waiting before a show or of the landscapes he saw from the airplane or train window.

He also immortalized how the band experienced Beatlemania by photographing the crowds of fans who greeted them everywhere and the groups of paparazzi who were hot on their heels.

Some very intimate Beatles

The first photograph in this exhibition is an out-of-focus self-portrait that Paul McCartney took of himself in the reflection of a mirror in London in 1963.

“We chose this self-portrait in the mirror, because the main theme of the exhibition is photography and the photographer who sees himself reflected. Normally, one thinks of Paul McCartney as a musician, and here we are positioning him as a visual artist,” Catherine Futter, director of curatorial affairs and main curator of decorative arts at the museum, explained to EFE.

In front of the self-portrait there is a huge photo of the band singing on stage, an image that logically Paul MCCARTNEY She couldn’t take it out, but she was taken out by someone from her team with her camera taken from backstage.

Futter explains that it was decided to include some snapshots of McCartney in the exhibition at the request of McCartney fans.

In addition to the photos, fans of these long-haired men can find many objects related to the band, such as the Beatles wigs that were sold at the time, magazines, personal diaries or even board games inspired by the musicians.

McCartney recounts his photographic memories of the Beatles

Below many of the snapshots you can read (and even listen to via a free app) quotes in which Paul McCartney reflects on those moments.

“One of the things that kept us sane was doing stupid things. There were a couple of hats lying around at the Christmas Show and George thought it would be fun to wear two. And he was right, because it turned out to be a great photo,” McCartney reflected on a funny photo of George Harrison.

On a black and white photo in which John Lennon is seen wearing sunglasses in Paris, McCartney notes: “That’s how we worked and that’s how I met him. Looking back, (these images) are very special to me because they are like family snapshots.”

Other photos transport the visitor directly into the eyes of a young Englishman traveling to the United States for the first time, such as the image of a pistol belonging to a Miami police officer in charge of the gang’s security.

“I was in the car taking pictures of palm trees and the general glamor of Miami, when one of our police officers (a motorcycle officer) stopped right next to the car, and was right where my camera lens was. It was a bit shocking for us to see a gun in real life, as we didn’t have armed police in England,” McCartney noted.

Photographers as a source of inspiration

The hundreds of photographers who followed them everywhere were also their source of inspiration and were many of their “models” during this period, as well as their teachers, since according to Futter McCartney he asked them for advice on how to improve his focus or exposure.

All of these recommendations helped him improve at high speed, something that can be seen in the last part of the exhibition, dedicated to the band’s trip to Miami in 1964, photos that he also took in color, unlike the rest of the exhibition.

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The 81-year-old artist will not go to the opening of the exhibition, but he visited the exhibition on a private tour and said he was very satisfied with the result.