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Exposure: Everybody Thought I Must Know Who The Next Big Thing Would Be

Terry O'Neill was a photographer who became famous for his candid photos of 1960s pop stars like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He got his start in photography somewhat accidentally while working for an airline, where he began learning about photography from a colleague. This led to a job taking airport photos on weekends for a newspaper. His informal, youthful style was noticed and he was hired by the Daily Sketch to photograph young pop bands. His first high-profile shoots were of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Though warned his career would be over if he left Fleet Street, O'Neill soon grew tired of their practices and moved to Hollywood, where his 35mm film approach became popular. He continued

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34 views

Exposure: Everybody Thought I Must Know Who The Next Big Thing Would Be

Terry O'Neill was a photographer who became famous for his candid photos of 1960s pop stars like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He got his start in photography somewhat accidentally while working for an airline, where he began learning about photography from a colleague. This led to a job taking airport photos on weekends for a newspaper. His informal, youthful style was noticed and he was hired by the Daily Sketch to photograph young pop bands. His first high-profile shoots were of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Though warned his career would be over if he left Fleet Street, O'Neill soon grew tired of their practices and moved to Hollywood, where his 35mm film approach became popular. He continued

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The Beatles, London, 1963

Queen

in the sky and taking off that sort of thing.


He remembers getting homework at the weekends at
London Airport where he practised some of his shots. One
of his frames happened to contain the then Home Secretary,
Rab Butler, suited and booted, asleep among a heap of
African chieftains. A reporter noticed this and asked if he
could take my film. Of course I said yes, and before I knew it
I had a job every Saturday for the Sunday Dispatch.
One of the main reasons people loved Terrys shots was
that he didnt know, or at least acknowledge, the formalities
being observed. Back in those days, there were only two
types of airport picture: people going up the stairs and
people going down the stairs, usually waving, he laughs.
Nobody was in the same parts of the airport as he was.
It took about six months of this before Brian
Fogarty, a photographer at the Daily Sketch, noticed

Everybody thought I must know


who the next big thing would be

Exposure

time

Terry ONeill

Recently awarded a Royal Photographic Society medal,


Terry ONeill talks to Henry Hopwood-Phillips about how
he became one of the worlds most famous photographers

wasnt really interested in photography at


all, Terry ONeill starts, in a manner I hadnt
anticipated. In fact, I was forced to take an
interest in it. What next, we find out that Judy Garland
hated singing? Oh I remember her! Terry recalls and
he doesnt mean on the silver screen.
Actually, Terrys first job was nowhere near a screen or
studio. Instead, British Airways (BOAC at the time) offered
him a placement at its graphic unit, where a colleague (Peter
Campion) would bring in photography manuals. I guess I
slowly started to take an interest and asked him which lens
did what, he admits coyly. But the job wasnt the most
exciting of stuff. It was just interiors of aircraft, planes flying

B E L G R AV I A R E S I D E N T S J O U R N A L

Terry and asked him if he wanted to team up. However,


Brian died en route to the Aga Khans wedding shortly
afterwards, and Terry was offered his job.
I told the picture editor I didnt really know what
I was doing, but he replied that hed look after me.
Terry was nervous and for good reason. He was a decade
younger than the next youngest guy on Fleet Street. But
he had an ace up his sleeve, or in his moisturising cream;
his youth meant he had access to all the young pop
bands that were making a name for themselves.
The papers took a gamble and asked me to mingle
with these pop groups because I was about their age,
Terry recalls. His first job was photographing The
Beatles at Abbey Road Studios. When it was published,
the paper sold out. So I followed that up with a new
group called The Rolling Stones. My boss thought they
looked like prehistoric monsters. So we ran them with
a good-looking band called The Dave Clark Five in a
feature labelled The Beauties and the Beasts!

013

Paul McCartney, London, 1981

Amy Winehouse, London, 2008

Mick Jagger, 1976

The Rolling Stones

However, Terry soon got tired of the hypocrisy


of Fleet Street, hitching and ditching people on the
basis of utility. I was 23 and the editor said: The
day you walk out that door youre finished, this paper
has made you and without us you will be nothing.
Over in Hollywood he quickly made a name for himself
as the man who shot with 35mm film instead of the 10x8 or

In those days, there were only two


types of airport picture: people going
up the stairs and people going down
5x4 films that others used, which took days to develop. It was
more portable and I could take pictures in almost any light; I
think people liked the informality of it, Terry clarifies.
When he returned to England the era of pop he had
captured in its springtime was on the wane. And of course

014

everybody thought
I must know who
the next big thing
would be, Terry
says with a wry
smile. He neednt be
so dry; his choice
was Elton John.
After snapping
him at his flat in
Edgware Road,
Vogue bought the
pictures and, after a
lull of 12 months, the singer became huge.
Discussing his tactics for getting the shots that
are now internationally famous, he highlights his first
encounter with Frank Sinatra. The actor just said
Right, youre with me, and then ignored me for the
next fortnight. It was my final big lesson in photography:
you need the distance that gives freedom, not necessarily
friendship, to get the right shot.
Despite the fact that Terry has captured all the stars
that, in hindsight, represent most of the pantheon; he never
did capture the celebrities who stoked his own fires as a
jazz musician. With his hands on his knees, he looks at the
ceiling, before letting out a belt of a laugh. Ha! Yes, youre
right. Funny that...
25 Years of Rock n Roll will run at the Ransom Art
Gallery until 3 December, 62-64 Pimlico Road,
SW1W 8LS, 020 7259 0220 (markransom.co.uk)

B E L G R AV I A R E S I D E N T S J O U R N A L

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