“A Day in the Life of the Beatles” is a collection of mostly unpublished photographs - a record of one extraordinary day that photographer Don McCullin spent with the Beatles. In September 1968 McCullin, whom the Beatles admired for his war photojournalism, was personally invited to photograph the band in locations ranging from Paul McCartney’s garden to the banks of the Thames. The photos presented in this collection have been culled from twenty rolls of black-and-white film taken over the course of a single afternoon. “A Day in the Life of the Beatles” will be released in December priced at $24.95.

Rizzoli Press Release

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE BEATLES
Photography by Don McCullin
Text by Paul McCartney
December 2010 / $24.95 US
ISBN: 978-0-8478-3611-6
Hardcover / 100 color and b/w photographs
144 pages / 7¼? x 9½?

“We knew of Don McCullin from his war photography. We were all interested in photography. It was at the forefront of the culture of the time. We’d been photographed by just about everybody. We’d worked with the great photographers, with Avedon, Parkinson and Bailey. We knew how good Don was. We thought ‘We’ve got to be the war. We’ll provide the battlefield and it’ll work. He’ll just click into action.’ That’s exactly what happened.”
– Paul McCartney

Simultaneously being published in the UK and the US to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of John Lennon’s death and with the blessing and cooperation of both the Beatles and their families/estates, this previously unpublished collection of poignant photographs is a record of one extraordinary day that photographer Don McCullin spent with the Beatles.

In September 1968, critically acclaimed photojournalist Don McCullin, whom the Beatles admired for his war photojournalism, was personally invited to photograph the band in locations ranging from Paul McCartney’s garden to the banks of the Thames. The timing of this photo shoot was, in hindsight, significant. The Beatles had just released Sgt. Pepper, Vietnam was in turmoil, and riots had spread through America’s cities and campuses. It was the moment when the innocence and optimism of the sixties darkened—the instant the youth movement, of which the Beatles were icons, converged with antiwar protests, the civil rights movement, and the burgeoning counterculture. One of the most poignant photographs taken that day was of John Lennon posing as if he were dead, surrounded by the other three band members. Lennon himself carefully staged the image as a pose of protest, but it is now seen by some as tragically prophetic.

These images of four inspired artists, at the pinnacle of their success and on the cusp of transformation, mark a time of radical cultural evolution. In these photos, culled from twenty rolls of black-and-white film taken over the course of an afternoon and ending as the evening shadows gathered, we can glimpse a moment in time that forever changed the way we viewed ourselves and our place in the world around us.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER / CONTRIBUTOR: Don McCullin was an acclaimed war photographer of the late twentieth century. The winner of numerous awards, including two Premier Awards from the World Press Photo, he became the only photojournalist to be made Commander of the British Empire. He is the author of several books and received the Cornell Capa Award in 2006 from the International Center for Photography in New York. Paul McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles and is listed in the Guinness World Records as the “most successful musician and composer in popular music history.”

Photo © Don McCullin, A Day in the Life of the Beatles, Rizzoli New York, 2010.

Your Comments