Celebrity looks: Linda McCartney's iconic shots

Many people know Linda McCartney primarily from the music industry. The wife of ex-Beatle Paul McCartney was a member of his band Wings as a singer and keyboardist, which brought her international fame. But even before she met Paul McCartney, she was already known in professional circles under her maiden name Linda Eastman, as a photographer, particularly in the 1960s photography.

Linda McCartney, the professionally unadulterated photographer

Linda McCartney's path to photography was as unusual as her later photographs. She had no professional training as a photographer. Instead, she acquired her knowledge of photography in two courses at night school.

After graduating from high school, the native New Yorker initially studied art history, but dropped out, got married and had her first daughter. However, the marriage only lasted three years. After her divorce, a friend sparked her interest in photography, which she then pursued intensively as a hobby. During this time, Linda McCartney worked as a receptionist in a newspaper editorial office in New York. As she was an avid fan of rock and pop music, she took advantage of an invitation to a Rolling Stones promotion party that she found in her inbox. Linda went to the party with her camera and photographed the musicians in her own unconventional way. She refrained from taking posed photos and instead photographed what was happening during the event in a relaxed and rather unobtrusive manner. This resulted in very natural, spontaneous photos of the band members.

Spontaneous shots work best when the camera is always to hand. A compact bag made of soft leather reliably protects the equipment, remains inconspicuous and allows intuitive working - perfect for those who want to capture the moment rather than stage it.

The extraordinary path to a great career in music photography

Due to their exceptional quality, Linda's photos were published in an editorial of the magazine she worked for. This launched her career as a professional photographer. She gave up her job as a receptionist and began working as a freelance photographer. At the same time, her photos attracted attention in the music industry, so that some famous and, at that time, less well-known musicians contacted her to be photographed by her as well. She also worked as the in-house photographer at the legendary Fillmore East music theater in New York, where she met and photographed many musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who and Frank Zappa. A portrait photograph of Eric Clapton eventually made it onto the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Linda thus became the first female photographer to be featured on the cover of the famous music magazine.

Linda McCartney documented the development of the rock and pop music scene in a particularly intimate way with her pictures, and was awarded Photographer of the Year in the USA in 1967 for her celebrity photography. It was through her work that she finally met Paul McCartney, whom she married in 1969. Together with him, she had three more children, while Paul McCartney adopted her daughter from her first marriage. Despite her focus on family life, Linda never stopped taking photographs. After her early death in 1998 at the age of just 56, Linda McCartney left behind a large body of photographs, short films and books. Her pictures are still exhibited in many countries today.

The special feature of Linda McCartney's iconic photographs

The unconventional style of Linda McCartney's photographs is probably due to the fact that she had no professional training. Instead, she photographed her subjects from an emotional perspective and attached particular importance to capturing situations spontaneously.

Thanks to the photography courses she took and her professional work as a photographer, she had extensive knowledge of photography techniques. However, this always took a back seat for her. She mainly applied her technical knowledge to portrait photography, but even in this field she followed her guiding principle: "What makes a photographer is more than just technical skill, more than just turning on a radio. It has to do with the power of inner intention." Linda McCartney regarded her pictures as visual signatures of the people she depicted in her photos. It was important to her to make celebrities appear as approachable and natural in her pictures as in a private photo of good friends.

Organization is crucial for portraits that require calm and focus. A bag with a clearly structured interior ensures that your camera and lenses are safe and within easy reach - ideal if you want to move freely between people and capture spontaneous moments.

Linda McCartney was inspired by early photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, Walker Evans and especially her idol Edward Steichen. What they had in common was their unconventional, artistic approach to photography, which differed from the technical orientation of modern, trained photographers. Their style was therefore atypical of 1960s photography from the very beginning. Most photographers of the time preferred to use the technical possibilities of their modern cameras to create perfect and often abstract images of their subjects.

Linda McCartney's personal proximity to the music scene enabled her to meet many stars at eye level who were still at the beginning of their careers. To this day, her photos therefore differ from the typical choreography of celebrity photography and appear more like photographs of friends or family members. They were taken in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and therefore appear light and informal. In this way, her photos conveyed a special feeling of closeness to the idols. With this type of early music photography, Linda accompanied and documented the development of the music scene, but also the social development of the 1960s and 1970s.

Linda McCartney: Photography, Polaroid and historical techniques

Since starting a family with Paul McCartney, Linda's motifs have changed. Alongside the stars of the music scene, she devoted herself in particular to her family life. She still loved to capture spontaneous situations. Her children, pets and celebrity husband offered her numerous opportunities for photos that were characterized by an extraordinary closeness. Linda found other popular motifs in nature. She loved animals and was committed to environmental protection and nature conservation. Everyday life on the street provided her with further inspiring motifs. Here, too, it is the snapshots that transform simple photos of anonymous people into iconic images.

Polaroid photography became popular at the beginning of the 1970s. For the first time, it made it possible for the public to receive a developed paper photo immediately after it had been taken. What we take for granted today with digital photography was still revolutionary at the time. Linda McCartney was enthusiastic about the spontaneity of this new technology and used it intensively. Linda McCartney's photography is therefore still characterized today by several thousand Polaroid photographs, which can be seen regularly in exhibitions. Linda McCartney also explored historical photographic processes such as the cyanotype to create so-called sun prints. Under the titles "Seaside Woman", "Oriental Nightfish" and "Wide Prairie", several award-winning short films also belong to the large creative repertoire of the active artist, who sadly passed away far too early.

A bag with flexible storage space is ideal for creative journeys between tradition and modernity - robust enough for technology, elegant enough for galleries. High-quality leather and a red lining make it a tribute to the analog age - and a companion for all those who understand photography as art.