Grossman became a friend of the Beatles and
was invited to document their lives.Grossman
remembers each member of the band with a series of rare, intimate
snapshots.
John was thoughtful," says Grossman. "Looking back over my
pictures of him, I see how many pictures he's looking thoughtful...or
studying something or watching something."
"People asked me, 'Was
John the controlling figure?' I never saw that in the time I spent with
them," says Grossman. "I saw a team." In an interview with 60 Minutes
Overtime, Grossman shows us a glimpses of John Lennon's family life, his
personal evolution during his time with the Beatles, and even his
light-hearted side, captured in a fun moment on a skateboard.
How
did Grossman get this kind of access? "I think I was one of the guys
that didn't want anything from them...I was just glad to be there as a
friend and a photojournalist."
"Paul was full of fun and a fun seeker," says Grossman. In the
video at left, hear Grossman's memories of his time with Paul McCartney
through some of his best Beatles photographs, including an unusual shot
showing Paul play the drums while smoking a cigarette. Grossman recalls
Ringo complaining, "Every time I get up from the drums, I come back,
there's Paul beating on the drums!"
Grossman also
captured pivotal scenes in Beatles recording sessions, but he says he
wasn't aware that musical history was being made before his eyes. "I
didn't listen to their music," says Grossman. "I was listening to
classical opera and symphonies."
George Harrison and Henry Grossman developed a closeness
during the time he photographed the band. "George was philosophical," he
says. "No put-on, no pretense-- that's what I liked about all of the
guys....Unless you spent time with them, around them, you could not know
how simple and direct they were all the time.
Grossman
says he saw many changes in George over the years he photographed him:
"One time, I went over to visit George, and there was an instrument on
the wall. And I said, 'What is that?' He reached up, took it down, and
started playing with the strings a bit. He said, 'It's a sitar, but I
can't find anybody to teach me how to play it'....The next time I went
to his home in London, he greeted me at the door barefoot and in Indian
garb."
"Ringo was a hell of a lot of fun," says Grossman. Ringo Starr
liked to goof around with Grossman's cameras whenever he wasn't
looking. "He would walk up to me sometimes and say, 'Henry, look over
there.' And I'd look over there, and he'd put his finger on my motorized
Nikon button and hold it down, and the camera would go ch-ch-ch---."
Many
of Grossman's photographs of the Beatles have an intimate quality, like
snapshots from an intimate family photo album. "I came up as a candid
photographer," explains Grossman. "That's where I started, shooting
candids. I don't know about posing people in pictures, really."
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