Astrid!
Photographer and lifelong friend to my favorite boys from Liverpool. I was so sad to hear of her passing yesterday, but grateful to see such an outpouring of love for her work. I've wanted to do a tribute to Astrid for a while now. Along with Klaus Voormann, she played such a huge role in shaping the Beatles' image, and captured them beautifully in pictures.
Astrid was introduced to the Beatles by Klaus when they were playing their residency at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg. She asked if they wouldn't mind her taking some photos of them, to which they agreed. The result was their very first photoshoot, which is, to say the least, ICONIC:
She fell in love with Stuart Sutcliffe (John's BFF from art school and then-bassist in the band) and Stuart eventually left the band to live with her. They got engaged, but he tragically died of a brain hemorrhage at age 21. Astrid captured some beautiful photos of Stuart, and also of John and George in his studio after his death:
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After Ringo joined the band and the Beatles became worldwide pop stars, they all remained close and Astrid took some wonderful portraits of them, when most others were either overly posed or just plain awkward. I also love the candids she shot. I'm sure they were more at ease with her than any other photographers, and it shows.
She hung out with them during their newfound fame, took behind the scenes photos during the filming of A Hard Day's Night, and stayed friends with them long after the band broke up. (I love the photos of George and Paul on holiday with Astrid - and Paul's derpy face, haha. She was so pretty!)
Astrid eventually traded photography for interior design and lived a relatively quiet life in Hamburg, although she did a few photography retrospectives in recent years, I think. She passed away yesterday, aged 81. If you want to read more about her, this is a nice article.
Danke schön, Astrid. JPGR were so lucky to have met you.