Monday 24 September 2012

Astrid Kirchherr- Photos of The Beatles


Factual: All these photos were taken in Germany by Astrid, on a Rolleicord camera, in 1960.
Context: She took these while The Beatles were in Hamburg, after seeing them perform in a local club and loving their music and their 'look' (their hair and fashion sense). This is when there were five Beatles: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
Technical: As I said in factual, all the photos were taken on her Rolleicord ca
mera, they are all black&white film photographs. The first four were taken at a fairground in a municipal park called 'Hamburger Dom', and the last was taken in Astrid's apartment.
Aesthetic: I love all of Astrid's photos, but I like these because of the style, the focus on Paul and John's faces in the first two  with Stuart posed with is guitar in the background, showing the short depth of field, meaning she's using a large appeture setting. I love the placing of the people and objects in all the photos are so well thought out and effective, the high contrast levels in the last two pictures really add depth. They all have such a atmosphere to them.





Photographers- Astrid Kirchherr

Astrid Kirchherr (aged 74) is a German artist and photographer, and is most known for her association with The Beatles. She took many famous pictures of them while they were in Hamburg, and was engaged to Stuart Sutcliffe (original bassist to The Beatles). The posts following will be some of her photography.