photo: © Mary Paige Snell
New York based photographer Bill Bernstein has been photographing rock star Sir Paul McCartney since 1989. The soft-spoken, and very laid back Bernstein takes his duties as McCartney's official photographer very seriously and has produced a collection of stunning photographs documenting "The Cute One's" 2002-3 world tour in the newly released coffee table book entitled "Each One Believing - Paul McCartney On Stage Off Stage and Backstage." (Chronicle Books)
The photographs compliment over 200 pages filled with dialogue culled from hours of interviews recorded by video crews during the tour. These revealing conversations give an intimate look at what it is like to tour with the legendary star and what McCartney finds so fascinating about touring.
It was McCartney's wish to put together a tour book that could best illustrate the excitement, atmosphere, camaraderie and love shared by his band and tour personnel. And the book does just that.
McCartney, Bernstein and writer/art director Caroline Grimshaw, who put together the free tour programs for the 1989-90 and 1993 tours and the official programs on recent tours, collaborated on this project which took months to produce. It was clearly a labor of love for all involved.
Each chapter is subtitled with a lyric from a McCartney song signifying a state of mind, which unfolds through various "fly on the wall" conversations with Paul, his wife Heather, the band, crew, DJ's, and key people behind McCartney's most successful tour. We learn from an insider's perspective what it is like to work with McCartney.
McCartney philosophizes about touring and his love of performing. Not surprising, the man of many talents is fueled by audience energy and adoration.
He says, "...it's electrifying. It's like a warm blanket, a big wave of heat coming over you, and you just get this intensity, and you see these faces and think, 'Wow! They've come to party!'"
Besides drooling over flawless
photos of their idol, fans will delight in reading the candid
sometimes off-color remarks punctuated throughout the book with
uncensored language.
Vignettes of assorted characters play out like a scene in a film.
Appropriately, the chapters are titled, "Scene One,"
"Scene Two." For anyone, including yours truly, who
has ever been backstage on a McCartney tour, "Scene Eight"
says it like it is, "Wherever Paul's tour goes, it is surrounded
by a whirlwind of organized chaos."
Bernstein's enormous undertaking as the sole tour photographer, was made easy by his "boss" who allowed him complete access. McCartney's total trust of Bernstein is revealed when the photographer is allowed to follow Paul into a backstage bathroom. Bernstein with camera in hand tells McCartney he will wait outside. Paul invites him to take photos while he relieves himself. Bernstein does, but you won't find those photos in the book. Instead you will find photos taken backstage, onstage, in limos, private jets, hotel rooms and inside the "inner sanctum," Paul's most private backstage place where he collects his thoughts and prepares himself for the concert.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Bernstein who, after 15 years of photographing one of the most famous men in the world still feels the excitement and thrill every time he snaps a photo of the star. His enthusiasm and dedication to the artistry of photography shows in his work. McCartney and all who surround the star are given the same importance photographically. To Bernstein everyone matters and is essential to telling the story of the tour in photographs.
"Each One Believing"
documents McCartney's continuing legacy as one of the world's
best-loved singer/songwriter/musicians. The book's historical
significance in Beatles Lore answers as many questions as it asks,
adding enough sustenance to the book for any fan of rock.
Diehard McCartney fans and photo-junkies alike will be deliriously
happy with Bernstein's behind-the-scenes photos. One can only
imagine what it is like to tour with Paul McCartney, but with
the help of Bernstein's incredible photographic eye, fans are
finally allowed that highly coveted all access backstage pass.
© Copyright
2004 Jorie B. Gracen - All rights reserved
This article can not be reprinted or duplicated without written
permission.
Jorie Gracen