MONROE GALLERY INTERVIEW: GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN PHOTOGRAPHY

Shelly Liebovitz is a photographer/writer in Los Angeles. She began writing a blog (www.photoreception.com/blog) concerning "guiding principles" and contemporary photography. Over the last month, she has been interviewing various members of the art community about the presence and role of guiding principles in creating enduring photography, with the intention to publish a book on the subject. Her interview with Monroe Gallery follows.





Monroe Gallery is one of over 250 galleries in Santa Fe. Sidney and Michelle Monroe specialize in classic black and white photography. Their gallery includes a significant number of select defining moment photojournalist images.


You might think that the viewpoint of representative owner differs markedly from that of artist
photographer. Sometimes it does, but in the case of Monroe Gallery, the opinions expressed by Sidney Monroe go to the very heart of the photographers with whom he deals.

In discussing his background in photography, Sid Monroe referenced how his relationships with photojournalists developed:

"…at the beginning of my career in the gallery world — to meet Alfred Eisenstaedt and work with him — set a spark, because I discovered I had this great admiration for the field of journalism and the pioneers who made picture journalism what it was, and what it became over the ensuing years. It was like joining a fraternity because almost all of these photographers were familiar with each other… [A]s we became known as specializing in photojournalistic works, one by one, more and more, came on board. So that’s really been our core focus, and particularly in the seven or eight years since we moved to Santa Fe."

In reflecting upon what particular photographers spoke about in the context of aesthetics, Monroe offered:

"It is a very interesting topic that you are exploring and it is very germane, particularly in the context of contemporary photography, and it got me to think that I have been very fortunate to know many of the photographers personally that we represent. They didn’t articulate it as guiding principles, but it was almost their own personal view on what their job was or what they were doing as a photographer…"

To Monroe, whether viewing classic images or contemporary journalistic works, it is important for photographers to “have a sense of what’s inside them” and to fully understand what is “driving them to make their images.” A body of work is not likely to succeed “if it requires a lot of explanation.” Strong images stand on their own merits. Continuing, Monroe said:

"…[T]he photographers I know were crafters of images. They knew if they could tell a story with their photographs, they would get published in Life or Look magazine, or whatever the vehicle might be… you could say that photographers competed against one another… [but] they were in the driver’s seat. It’s the reverse today… by the nature of luck or skill, certain photographers [then] got shots that got published and those have become the defining images of the events."

"…[I]t was just their own decision-making process that got them in the position to get the photograph."

Famous journalistic images have helped to crystalize our collective interpretation of the meaning of important events. But, they may even more clearly define the character of the photographer. Monroe said of certain legendary photojournalists:

"..the photographers that come to mind, like Bill Eppridge who took the defining moment of Robert Kennedy after he was assassinated, …the Villagers Fleeing a Napalm Strike, that’s Nick Ut, or Eddie Adams, who took the execution picture in Viet Nam—the character of those three men was such that they had the determination to tell the story and get there.

Eddie Adams… became legendary because unlike other photographers [in Viet Nam], he was an ex-Marine. When he would go on assignment he would go up to the commander, identify himself and say that he wanted to go with the first wave of men… So, he put himself out on the front line as opposed to holding back and trying to capture the story after an area had been secured.

But, they had these guiding principles… they didn’t necessarily come in with a point-of-view. They surely had their own political views and their own opinions, but they really went in with determination to get to a story and to get a picture."

In the field of photography generally, understanding the aesthetics, that is, the set of guiding principles that may be reflected in images, has been a slippery, and sometimes elusive, slope for me. In talking to Sid Monroe, what surfaced was a clarifying point: In trying to capture an image, photographers in the field are faced with so many variables, simply getting the image may be the single-most important driving principle in play.

I mentioned writer, Malcolm Gladwell, recently. In another one of his books, Blink, Gladwell suggests that emergency room doctors seemed to arrive at more accurate diagnoses when armed with less patient data than if they have more statistics at hand. It could be that when it comes to blended scenarios where cognitive and intuitive are allowed to flow openly, less is more. That is, our brains may operate at peak when we are more or less flying by the seat of our pants. I wonder then if photojournalists who find themselves in tremendously stressful situations are forced by necessity to function at much higher levels?

In a field where preparation is such a critical component to succeeding, the notion of flying at all cuts against the cultural grain. Context is everything. Preparation obviously takes on vastly different meaning in the field, as in battlefield, than in a studio setting. In the past year, I have read a number of times that very accomplished photographers on a well-prepared, lengthy shoots, found that the strongest and most successful images were taken as complete afterthoughts. Or, I should say, the strongest image resulted after the shoot had ended and when the photographer finally felt free to photograph.

The repeated sentiment by those professionals speaks loudly to how important our creative instincts are, and, importantly, how they are seemingly relegated to an inferior role in our formal professional processes. In fact, those professionals who took the extra last shot, which succeeded, may have intuitively recognized after their rational minds shut off that something was missing from the day’s work product.

We all need to find ways to allow ourselves to fly a little bit more. If you need moral support, review some of the images exhibited at Monroe Gallery. You might, as I did, take a renewed example from those courageous photojournalists, who when confronted with less time, means and opportunity, managed somehow to capture extraordinary images, which ultimately have served to define generations.


©Shelly Liebovitz

http://www.photoreception.com/blog/

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER NEIL LEIFER ON EXHIBIT AT ANNENBERG CENTER, COMING TO MONROE GALLERY FOR BOOK SIGNING DECEMBER 4 AND 5

Neil Leifer: vince Lombardi being carried off the field, NFL Championship Game, Packers Defeat Giants, Green Bay, December 31, 1961

The Annenberg Foundation is pleased to announce the third exhibit in the Annenberg Space for Photography, an innovative cultural destination in Los Angeles dedicated to presenting print photography and digital images. Entitled "SPORT: IOOSS & LEIFER," the exhibit will feature the work of Walter Iooss and Neil Leifer, two of the world's most preeminent sports photographers. This is the first time both photographers will be featured together in a two-person show. This exhibit is also a rare peek at the artistry of Sports Photography. "SPORT: IOOSS & LEIFER" will open to the public on November 12, 2009 and run through March 7, 2010.

Additionally, Monroe Gallery of Photography is excited to welcome Neil Leifer for a very special holiday book signing on Decvember 4 and 5. Leifer will be signing copies of his books, "Guts and Glory: The Golden Age of American Football"; "Baseball: Ballet in The Dirt", and "The Best of Leifer". A slection of Leifer's iconic sports photographs will be on exhibit, and there is a public reception with Neil Leifer on Friday, December 4, from 5 - 7. Please contact Monroe Gallery for further information, or to reserve a copy of  Leifer's books.

Spanning the careers of both men, over 80 photographic prints will be seen in the Annenberg exhibit which includes iconic images such as Muhammed Ali's victory over Sonny Liston and Michael Jordan in full glory. "SPORT: IOOSS & LEIFER" will take visitors on a journey through some of the most memorable and inspiring moments in sports history. These images will shine a light on the tremendous power, grace and strength it takes to be a top athlete, as well as present the biggest personalities from the field. A digital feature presentation will expand the visitor experience by presenting several hundred more of their photographs and will include interviews and commentary from athletes and artists. Among the concepts explored in the exhibit will be the athlete as a hero and role model in our society, as well as how sports are used to improve the public well-being.

During the four-month exhibit, the free IRIS Nights lecture series will continue to be held inside the space on Thursday evenings. Expected speakers include Iooss, Leifer, notable athletes, sports commentators and others. Additional programs related to the exhibit will include a children's photography contest, a themed group slideshow evening, photography workshops and a family event to be held the Saturday prior to Super Bowl Sunday, 2010. Details and final schedules will be announced later this Fall.

NEIL LEIFER

Neil Leifer's photography career has spanned almost 50 years. Specializing in sports photography, Leifer's photos have regularly appeared in every major national magazine, including the Saturday Evening Post, Look, LIFE, Newsweek, People and, most often, Sports Illustrated. Leifer's pictures have graced over 200 covers of Time Inc. publications -- 170 at Sports Illustrated, and 40 at TIME Magazine. Out of his 15 published books, his 1978 Abrams book, Sports, has been hailed by many as the best of its kind. His newest book Guts and Glory: The Golden Age of American Football 1958-1978 was published by Taschen in November 2008. Leifer admits his favorite subject to shoot was Muhammad Ali, whom he has photographed on more than 80 separate occasions. Leifer now devotes 100% of his time to producing and directing films.

MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.992.0800
505.992.0810 (fax)
info@monroegallery.com
http://www.monroegallery.com/

MONROE GALLERY NOW REPRESENTING RICHARD C. MILLER

Richard C. Miller: Marilyn Monroe, "Some Like It Hot"

Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to add representation of Richard C. Miller.

Richard Crump Miller was born on Aug 6, 1912. By 9 or 10, he had his own camera and started casting about for subjects. By 16, he'd built himself a darkroom off the garage at the family home in 1929, Dick was introduced to the Leica and Graflex cameras. He went on to study cinematography while attending, successively, Stanford University, Pomona College, and USC.

In 1939 Dick began his career as a photographer. Dick learned the tri-color carbro printing process out of a book. By using mirrors and filters, a one-shot camera creates three separate negatives in the camera with one shot. These separation negatives are then used to print the bromides for making a tri-color pigment print, or “carbro.” Dick used the one-shot for a long time before switching to transparencies. Dick worked mainly in advertising and commercial photography. In 1941 the Saturday Evening Post purchased one of his photographs as a cover, one of only two photographic Post covers that year and the first that Dick had ever sold.


The photograph got Dick the attention of some NY agents and enabled him to sign up with the Freelance Photographer's Guild. Then came the war. At that point "you could either go into the service or get a war job," he remembers. So in 1941, looking for employment, Dick attended a group sales pitch presented by North American Aviation and Lockheed for the purpose of hiring wartime employees. Dick got a job in the photo department at North American and began at last to earn a steady income from his photography. At North American, he also met the photographer Brett Weston, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. “It was a great friendship,” Dick says now. “It lasted the rest of my life.”

Later,  Robert Coburn offered him an opportunity to join IATSE #659, the entertainment industry photographer's union, so that he could print color at Columbia. Dick declined, choosing to remain independent and to pursue his freelance work. "All during those years I worked weekends, selling to magazines. I sent them the Kodachromes."

In March and April 1946, Dick photographed a model provided through the Blue Book Models agency, run by Emmeline Snively from an office in the Ambassador Hotel. The model's name was Norma Jeane Dougherty. "She was a cutie, and they had sold some covers of her already," Dick says. He hesitated because the magazines did not like to use multiple covers using the same model. But he finally decided to hire her, and on March 2, Dick and Norma Jeane took a trip. He posed her leaning against a tree, then on the beach, and finally on a fence. They left the beach abruptly. "I remember the crowd was collecting very fast. A lot of men."

"I did not shoot her for very long. The market was already saturated," he recalls. But Dick did sell a cover of Norma Jeane to True Romance. "She was nice when she was Norma Jeane, very sweet. She came to dinner at the house. A nice, friendly girl." Then she went to work for the studios, eventually becoming Marilyn Monroe. Dick photographed her after she became a celebrity. "I met Marilyn Monroe again on Some Like It Hot. I was the still photographer." She smiled and said, "Hi, Dick

Dick continued to work for This Week, Liberty, Family Circle, Parents, American Weekly, Colliers, Life, and Time; as well as during the  '40s well into the late '50s documenting Hollywood. For seven decades, he made a living working for North American Aviation and later as stringer for Globe Photos, which kept him circulating in the universe of stars -- Elizabeth Taylor, James Stewart, Gary Cooper, Jayne Mansfield, Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Billy Wilder, Rock Hudson and Dennis Hopper among them. In time, he covered more than seventy films.

His first on-location assignment was for Giant (1955), where his job was to shadow James Dean. When Dean died, many pictures of him were sold, becoming iconic images since he and Dean had developed a close relationship based on a mutual interest in Porsches and photography.

In 2003 Dick was confined to a wheelchair due to degenerating bone in the cervical area of his spine. Although he retains the use of his hands to some degree, his ability to make prints and even operate his camera has been seriously curtailed.

Richard C. Miller's photographs were recently exhibited at The J. Paul Getty Museum; March 31, 2009 through 5 August 2009 in 2007. Watch our website for more of Dick's wonderful photography.

Richard C. Miller: James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a break during the filming of "Giant"

EDDIE ADAMS DOCUMENTARY "AN UNLIKELY WEAPON" TO SCREEN AT DOLPH BRISCOE CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTORY

Eddie Adams: Street Execution of a Viet Cong Prisoner, Saigon, 1968

We have previously posted that the photographic archive of renowned photojournalist Eddie Adams has been donated by his widow, Alyssa Adams, to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin. If you happen to be in the Austin area this Wednesday, October 28, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History will host a screening of the documentary An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story on Oct. 28, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Blanton Museum of Art Auditorium. The documentary will be followed by remarks from David Hume Kennerly, Alyssa Adams and Cindy Adkins.


An Unlikely Weapon is an award-winning documentary about the life of acclaimed photojournalist Eddie Adams, whose photographic archive was recently donated to the Briscoe Center by his widow, Alyssa Adams. The film explores Adams's career, notably the complex legacy of his most famous image: "Saigon Execution," which won the Pulitzer Prize. Narrated by Keifer Sutherland, the film features extensive interviews with Eddie Adams, his family and friends, and his colleagues, including Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, David Hume Kennerly, Morley Safer, Nick Ut, Bob Schieffer, Hal Buell, Kerry Kennedy, and Gordon Parks.


The event is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. We sincerely hope you can join us. An exhibit of Adams' photographs is on view through January 16, 2010.

The Blanton Museum of Art Auditorium is located in the Edgar A. Smith Building, 200 E. MLK Blvd. (MLK Blvd. at Congress, see map & directions). Paid parking is available in the Brazos Parking Garage, 210 E. MLK Blvd. If you park in Brazos Garage, bring your parking ticket to the Blanton Museum of Art gift shop for validation for a reduced parking fee of $3.00. Validation only available PRIOR to the event.

For more information, visit the Briscoe Center, call (512) 495-4609, or e-mail cah@austin.utexas.edu.

Monroe Gallery of Photography represents Eddie Adams' photographs, click here to view a selection.


MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.992.0800
info@monroegallery.com

http://www.monroegallery.com/

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MUSEUM OF MODERN ART TO HOST "PHOTOJOURNALISM TODAY"

On December 15 at 6:30 PM, Kathy Ryan will moderate a discussion of the state of the art of photojournalism featuring Lynsey Addario and Damon Winters.

Beginning in the 1930s, major picture magazines like LOOK and Life popularized photojournalism. Although they are no longer in publication, the art form that these signature magazines helped to establish is still thriving in new and exciting ways. Join leading photojournalists of today, including MacArthur "genius" award winner Lynsey Addario and Pulitzer-Prize winner Damon Winters, for a discussion of the state of the art of photojournalism. Moderated by Kathy Ryan, photo editor of the New York Times Magazine. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Only in New York: Photographs from LOOK Magazine.

Tickets available here.

BILL EPPRIDGE TO RECEIVE PREEMINENT JOURNALISM AWARD

Bill Eppridge ©Tim Mantoani

In recognition of his more than 45 years as a photojournalist, capturing for the people of the world critical moments in the history of the world, Bill Eppridge will receive the University of Missouri's Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism on Tuesday, Oct. 20, on the University of Missouri campus.

The School has awarded the Medal annually since 1930. Tom Brokaw, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Sir Winston Churchill, Carol Loomis of Fortune magazine and Gordon Parks are among the distinguished journalists, advertising and public relations practitioners, business people, institutions and media organizations who have been recipients of this influential award.


Monroe Gallery of Photography congratulates Bill Eppride for this well-deserved recognition.

MONROE GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHERS' EVENTS

The fall season is very busy for several Monroe Gallery photographers. Stephen Wilkes is being featured at Monroe Gallery in his first-ever retrospective exhibition. The exhibition features several new photographs, and will continue through November 22.

Eris Smith's photographs are featured in the first first installment of Michigan Public Radio's "The Picture Project". His series of photographs titled "What We Eat" is running through October 2009. For more of Smith's work, click here.

Bill Eppridge just returned home from the Photography at The Summit workshop and speaking at the Senior World Games in St. George, Utah. He is appearing at the annual Eddie Adams workshop, Barnstorm, October 8,9,10; and then on October 20th Eppridge receives The Missouri School of Journalism's Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.

The Beatles formed in April, 1960; and the band split up on April 10, 1970. 2010 will be the respective 50th and 40th anniversaries of the seminal dates in Beatles history. Bill Eppridge was there when they arrived, and we are pleased to share his special collection of photographs of The Beatles.

On November 17, the Skirball Cultural center in Los Angeles is featuring nearly 170 unforgettable images by more than thirty-five photographers, Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956–1968. Included in the exhibition are photographs by Bill Eppridge and Steve Schapiro. The exhibit is complemented by sound recordings of music and speeches, artifacts, and other archival materials that provide historical context, and will be on view through March 7, 2010.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of his death, the extensive photographic archive of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams has been donated by his widow, Alyssa Adams, to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

An exhibit of Adams' photographs will be on display at the Briscoe Center's Sid Richardson Hall until January 16, 2010, and on October 28, 2009, the center will host a screening of "An Unlikely Weapon," a documentary film that examines Adams' life. Showing at the Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas at Austin campus, the film is free and open to the public. The movie was made by filmmaker Susan Morgan Cooper along with the photographer's sister-in-law, Cindy Lou Adkins. After the screening, remarks are scheduled to be made by Alyssa Adams along with David Hume Kennerly.

And, save the date for a major exhibition of Neil Leifer's iconic sports photography. On November 13, the Annenberg Space for Photography opens "Sport: Iooss and Leifer". Two of the world’s most preeminent sports photographers come together in this compelling exhibit celebrating the athlete, which will run through March, 2010.

Congratulations to all! Watch for news of our next exhibit, "On The Town", opening November 27. The subject has provided rich material for photographers for decades: magnificent environments, beautiful and exquisite women and handsome and poised men celebrating with exuberance and gusto. Also pictured are some of the simpler pursuits of happiness, such as when the drive-in theater and drive-in restaurant were novel and luxurious attractions. Just in time for the Holidays!

MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

112 Don Gaspar

Santa Fe, NM 87501

505.992.0800

505.992.0810 (fax)

info@monroegallery.com

www.monroegallery.com

IRVING PENN IS DEAD AT 92

Copyright The New York Times

October 7, 2009

Irving Penn, one of the 20th century’s most prolific and influential photographers of fashion and the famous, whose signature blend of classical elegance and cool minimalism was recognizable to magazine readers and museumgoers worldwide, died Wednesday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 92.

His death was announced by Peter MacGill, his friend and representative.

Mr. Penn’s talent for picturing his subjects with compositional clarity and economy earned him the widespread admiration of readers of Vogue during his long association with the magazine, beginning in 1943. It also brought him recognition in the art world; his photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries and are prized by collectors.

His long career at Vogue spanned a number of radical transformations in fashion and its depiction, but his style remained remarkably constant. Imbued with calm and decorum, his photographs often seemed intent on defying fashion. His models and portrait subjects were never seen leaping or running or turning themselves into blurs. Even the rough-and-ready members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, photographed in San Francisco in 1967, were transformed within the quieting frame of his studio camera into the graphic equivalent of a Greek frieze.

Instead of spontaneity, Mr. Penn provided the illusion of a seance, his gaze precisely describing the profile of a Balenciaga coat or of a Moroccan jalaba in a way that could almost mesmerize the viewer. Nothing escaped the edges of his photographs unless he commanded it. Except for a series of close-up portraits that cut his subjects’ heads off at the forehead, and another, stranger suite of overripe nudes, his subjects were usually shown whole, apparently enjoying a splendid isolation from the real world.

He was probably most famous for photographing Parisian fashion models and the world’s great cultural figures, but he seemed equally at home photographing Peruvian peasants or bunion pads. Merry Foresta, co-organizer of a 1990 retrospective of his work at the National Museum of American Art, wrote that his pictures exhibited “the control of an art director fused with the process of an artist.”

A courtly man whose gentle demeanor masked an intense perfectionism, Mr. Penn adopted the pose of a humble craftsman while helping to shape a field known for putting on airs. Although schooled in painting and design, he chose to define himself as a photographer, scraping his early canvases of paint so that they might serve a more useful life as backdrops to his pictures.
He was also a refined conversationalist and a devoted husband and friend. His marriage to Lisa Fonssagrives, a beautiful model, artist and his sometime collaborator, lasted 42 years, ending with her death at the age of 80 in 1992. Mr. Penn’s photographs of Ms. Fonssagrives not only captured a slim woman of lofty sophistication and radiant good health; they also set the esthetic standard for the elegant fashion photography of the 1940s and ’50s.

Ms. Fonssagrives became a sculptor after her modeling career ended. In 1994, Mr. Penn and their son, Tom, a metal designer, arranged the printing of a book that reproduced his wife’s sculpture, prints and drawings. In addition to his son, Mr. Penn is survived by his stepdaughter, Mia Fonssagrives.Solow (who renders her name with a dot), a sculptor and jewelry designer; his younger brother, Arthur, the well-known director of such films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” and nine grandchildren.

Continue reading the full obituary here.

What We Eat: Obesity Interviews and Photo Essay

Photograph by Eric Smith


Pictures on Michigan Public Radio? Not quite, but Michigan Radio is launching the Picture
Project, a photography site and blog space featuring photography about Michigan people,
places, events and issues. The first installment of the Picture Project will run in October
2009 with photo essays that expand on stories featured in Michigan Radio broadcasts. In
the future the Picture Project will be expanded to include a wide mixture of
Michigan-centric content including photographic essays, historical photographs, fine art
photography, pictures from various archives and collections, and more - all Michigan
related.



Monroe Gallery photographer Eric Smith is featured in the first installment: What We Eat: Obesity Interviews & Photo Essay.


This week Michigan Radio's Charity Nebbe presents a series of interviews about obesity on All Things Considered 4-6:30p. Photographer Eric Smith explores the epidemic in Michigan Radio's brand new web feature The Michigan Radio Picture Project.



MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.992.0800
505.992.0810 (fax)
info@monroegallery.com
www.monroegallery.com

BILL EPPRIDGE AND THE BEATLES

Screaming Girls, JFK Airport, NY, February 7, 1964. Copyright Bill Eppridge

The Beatles formed in April, 1960; and the band split up on April 10, 1970. 2010 will be the respective 50th and 40th anniversaries of the seminal dates in Beatles history.

Two hundred six songs. Thirteen original albums plus two CDs worth of miscellany. Seven years in the making - the complete recorded works of the Beatles rolled out on September 8.

Renowned photojournalist Bill Eppridge was there at the beginning.

Bill Eppridge was on assignment for LIFE magazine, not yet on staff, but a regular photographer in 1964. He didn't really know who The Beatles were, nor did most of America "One morning my boss said, 'Look, we've got a bunch of British musicians coming into town. They're called the Beatles.'"

Bill Eppridge was at John F. Kennedy airport on February 7, 1964 awaiting the arrival of The Beatles. He continued to photograph The Beatles that day, and over the next several days. He was invited to come up to their room at the Plaza Hotel and "stick with them." He was with them in Central Park and at the Ed Sullivan Show for both the rehearsal and the historic performance. He rode the train to Washington, D.C. with them for the concert at the Washington Coliseum, and photographed their Carnegie Hall performance on February 12, 1964.

"These were four very fine young gentlemen, and great fun to be around," Eppridge recalls. After he introduced himself to Ringo, who consulted with John, the group asked what he wanted them to do while being photographed for Life. "I'm not going to ask you to do a thing," was Eppridge's reply. "I just want to be there." An exhibit of Eppridge's Beatles photographs has been touring since 2001, and was seen by over 2 million people at the Smithsonian Museum.

See Bill Eppridge's photographs of the Beatles here.