www.meet-the-beatles.com

Music ‘I Should Have Known Better’ from the Movie and Album ‘A Hard Days Night’ (train compartment scene) recorded at Abbey Road Studios 25 Feb 1964.

Pictures taken by Astrid Kirchherr behind the scenes on location during the filming of A Hard Days Night, March 1964.

Stu died April 1962 and the Beatles finished their season at the Star Club May 31st 1962. Astrid was however able to stay in touch with her close English friends as the Beatles returned to the Star Club for two weeks at the end of 1962 and Astrid also spent four days with John and Cyn in Paris Aug 1963.

At the time Astrid was working as a freelance photographer for the weekly German ‘Stern’ Magazine (search by stern.de and select translation option www.stern.de). One of her assignments was with her colleague Max Scheler to take “behind the scenes” pictures of the Beatles on location during the filming of A Hard Days Night.

The subsequent photos are regarded as some of the best “behind the scenes” photos ever taken of the Beatles capturing them between filming in early March 1964 on a train travelling between London and Minehead (a small coastal town in West Somerset).

The photos show the Beatles relaxing between filming sessions, learning scripts, reading or just goofing around. One of the first photos ever of George and his future wife Patti is amongst the photos.

Astrid never published these photos until 1995 and admitted that she has taken very few photographs since 1967. “Every magazine and newspaper wanted me to photograph The Beatles again or they wanted my old stuff, even if it was out of focus, whether they were nice or not. They wouldn’t look at my other work. It was very hard for a girl photographer in the 60s to be accepted”

Her early work has however been exhibited in Hamburg, Bremen, London, Liverpool, New York City, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Vienna, and at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Astrid has published three limited edition books of photographs. These can be viewed at www.rockstore.com

Astrid and her partner operate the K&K photography shop in Hamburg http://www.center-of-beat.com/en_uk.php where you can read about Astrid, Beatle events, news and shop online http://www.center-of-beat.com/cobshop/shop_en.html including merchandise from the store.

Duration : 0:2:45

(more…)