Beatles photographer shoots his last

The death of Robert Whitaker has been reported. He was 71.

Whitaker caught Brian Epstein’s eye when the group toured Australia in 1964 and he was giving an interview for Jewish News.  “I photographed Epstein, saw he was a bit of a peacock and a cavalier, and put peacock feathers around his head in photographic relief, ‘ Whitaker related. ‘He was knocked out when he saw the picture. After that, he saw an exhibition of collages I had at the Museum of Modern Art and immediately offered me the position of staff photographer at NEMS, photographing all his artists. I initially turned it down, but after seeing The Beatles perform at Festival Hall I was overwhelmed by all the screaming fans and I decided to accept the offer to return to England.”

He shot several iconic images

incuding the Hard Day’s Night cover

and another cover, the so-called Butcher’ Cover that was pulled before it reached the USA:

Here’s an Art Network obit.

(all images (c) the estate of Robert Whitaker, all rights reserved)