{"id":385984,"date":"2025-08-30T23:45:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T23:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/385984\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T23:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T23:45:24","slug":"a-new-exhibition-of-paul-mccartneys-own-photographs-reminds-me-that-being-in-the-moment-is-the-overriding-principle-of-great-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/385984\/","title":{"rendered":"A new exhibition of Paul McCartney\u2019s own photographs reminds me that being in the moment is the overriding principle of great photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a big enough fan of The Beatles that I sat through eight hours of Peter Jackson\u2019s meticulously restored footage of the \u2018Fab Four\u2019 working on their final studio album in Disney+ docuseries, The Beatles: Get Back. So news of a Beatles-themed photography exhibition at the Gagosian\u2019s Davies Street location in London was always going to be of interest. But Rearview Mirror: Liverpool\u2013London\u2013Paris isn\u2019t your typical fly-on-the-wall showcase, because all of the images were captured by none other than Paul McCartney.<\/p>\n

It would be foolish to think that a man who\u2019s spent a lifetime expressing himself through various media, be it a lyric sheet, bass guitar, piano, or paint brush, could pick up a camera and do anything but capture enticing imagery. But what I love most about these photographs is that only three other people in the world could have come close to matching the spirit of Paul\u2019s work: John, George, and Ringo. That\u2019s because there\u2019s an intimacy in the photography that could only have been captured by a fellow Beatle.<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 3<\/p>\n

\"Self-portraitSelf-portrait in my room at the Asher family home, Wimpole Street, London, December 1963(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)\"George,George, Ringo, and John backstage at The Beatles Christmas Show, Finsbury Park Astoria, London, December 1963(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)\"DressingDressing room at the Lewisham Odeon, London, 8 December 1963(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)<\/p>\n

The collection spans December 1963 to February 1964, just after the release of the band\u2019s second album, With the Beatles. This is a pivotal moment in the Yesterday hitmakers\u2019 history, because it marks the first few months of \u2018Beatlemania\u2019. Rather than an outsider\u2019s inside look into the world\u2019s biggest band, Paul\u2019s photography eschews the gaze of the masses, sheds the superstar skin, and captures four young lads from Liverpool, touring the UK and Paris, just prior to their debut trip to the United States. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that Rearview Mirror: Liverpool\u2013London\u2013Paris documents one of the most transformative periods of The Beatles\u2019 careers, from domestic superheroes to the genesis of global stardom.<\/p>\n

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Image 1 of 3<\/p>\n

\"AtAt London Airport (with Brian Epstein, Mal Evans, and Neil Aspinall) for Pan Am flight 101 to New York City, 7 February 1964(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)\"JohnJohn backstage at the London Palladium, 12 January 1964(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)\"Photographers,Photographers, fans, and officers, rue de Caumartin, Paris, January 1964(Image credit: \u00a9Paul McCartney \/ Courtesy Gagosian)<\/p>\n

Paul even makes an appearance as a subject himself, reflected in the mirror of his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher\u2019s, family home. The exhibition also features playful portraits of the songwriting legend\u2019s bandmates, imagery of the ogling press from the band\u2019s point of view, and contact sheets that provide frame-by-frame documentation, akin to video footage. Everything was captured on Paul\u2019s 35mm Pentax<\/a> film camera. As such, not everything is perfectly in focus or exposed and I think the imagery is all the better for it. In a world where we strive constantly to improve the technical aspects of photography, Rearview Mirror: Liverpool\u2013London\u2013Paris is a reminder that one element of photography trumps all else: being there, in the moment.<\/p>\n

The prints are hand-signed by Paul McCartney and remastered from original negatives and contact sheets that were, rather remarkably, assumed lost for over half a century. Gagosian\u2019s exhibition coincides with Paul McCartney Photographs 1963\u201364: Eyes of the Storm<\/a>, an exhibition that opened at London\u2019s National Portrait Gallery and is currently on tour. Rearview Mirror: Liverpool\u2013London\u2013Paris opened on August 28 and runs until October 4, 2025, in Gagosian\u2019s Davies Street exhibition space<\/a>, in central London.<\/p>\n

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Find out how The Beatles helped turn the Pentax Spotmatic into an iconic camera<\/a>. For more exhibitions. If you’re inspired to capture your own film photography, here are the best film cameras<\/a> and the best film for 35mm cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a big enough fan of The Beatles that I sat through eight hours of Peter Jackson\u2019s meticulously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-385984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115120381978515090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}