Last Updated on 05/03/2024 by Chris Gampat
This title is one that I truly never thought I’d type: but Curator Catherine Futter and the Brooklyn Museum have done what many might deem impossible. They’ve taken the work of someone not considered a traditional photographer and given it the specular highlights it needs to shine. If Paul’s photography were the sun, you wouldn’t mind going blind staring at it. The images are a testament to the pillar of documentary photography that advocates for people skills, access, and being emotionally in tune with what’s around you.
Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum until August 18th, 2024. Please visit their website for more information.
Table of Contents
Paul McCartney Photographs: The Exhibit
To recap what so many of you know, I’m low-vision (formerly called legally blind, but that definition has changed.) So, if you wear transition lenses, I strongly encourage you to let your glasses adjust to the inside of the Brooklyn Museum. Paul McCartney Photographs takes up the entire floor, and there are no windows on said floor. If you don’t let them adjust, some rooms might seem much darker than they really are. Part of this is due to the lighting and how bold the wall paint is.
Let’s start there: the lighting on the prints is best appreciated with fewer people in the gallery space. At times, you’ll see reflections, but they’re largely kept down to a minimum. To truly appreciate the work with minimal reflections, however, you must sometimes stand far away from the prints. That’s something that can only be done with fewer people in the space. If you’re reading this, keep that in mind.
The Prints
While the prints have their own spotlight, I truly wish that the text had the same care and appreciation given to it. Some of the text is written in bright, contrasting text with copious amounts of light. While at other times, the text seems almost like an afterthought. The experience forces you to move very often throughout the exhibit to really appreciate what’s in front of you.
Indeed, what’s in front of you is a time capsule. These images were shot by Paul over the years as the band toured and went about daily life. Insights are provided into what he shot, why he shot it, and some of the little details in between. There’s a whole section where Paul switches from black and white to color. While doing this, the color images look just as timeless as all the black and white photographs do. And here is where you really want to get close: the details are masterfully printed. You can see things like blemishes on the faces of each individual member of the Beatles — reminding you that these are candid photographs made by a man who had immense trust in them.
This fact, in and of itself, is one of the most important things here. Paul demonstrated that he was a photographer more than capable of capturing emotional moments. But he also had access that many others didn’t. I know several influencers who would probably say things like “I could’ve shot this, why isn’t my work in a museum?” The honest truth is that Paul shot from a place of emotional memory capture — not from a place of pleasing an algorithm.
It speaks to the importance of people skills — something which is truly lacking in much of photography. I adore the fact that the Brooklyn Museum is putting photographers with people skills in the spotlight. Previously, they gave quite a bit of space to Jamel Shabazz. Preceding that, the Museum did an incredible job with Garry Winogrand’s photographs. It’s so important in a world where AI is seeping through the cracks and people are relating photography to an attention-based economy over one based on authenticity.
The Third Sense
The exhibit is akin to accomplishing what good cinema does — it converses with your eyes and ears. With that said, it misses the stimulation of the third sense, touch — which so many use often in the world of smartphones. The addition of several copies of the book for which this exhibit is named for is missing. Paired with the right lighting, this would’ve made the exhibit all that much better. However, you can pick the book up from Amazon.
Growing up listening to punk rock and currently sporting a mohawk at age 37, I could never get into the Beatles — though I acknowledge their impact on culture and applaud them as artists. Despite this, I can look past that and nod my head to Paul’s photography abilities. If you’re a photographer who does work revolving around people, you should really go see this exhibit.