Life Through The Lens of Linda McCartney

Life Through The Lens of Linda McCartney

Linda McCartney (née Eastman) was born in New York in 1941. She took a photo course with 

Hazel Archer and studied art history at the University of Arizona before settling in New York City, 

where she began her photo career shooting rock portraits. Outside of her photography, 

Linda McCartney is known for her passionate animal rights activism and her staunch 

vegetarianism. She wrote cookbooks and founded her own brand of frozen vegetarian meals, 

all the while raising a family, continuing to take photographs, and participating as a Wings band 

member alongside Paul McCartney. She died in 1998 at the age of 56.

In 1966, during a brief stint as a receptionist for Town and Country magazine, Linda Eastman 

snagged a press pass to a very exclusive promotional event for the Rolling Stones aboard a yacht

on the Hudson River; her fresh, candid photographs of the band were far superior to the formal 

shots made by the band’s official photographer, and she was instantly on the way to making a name

for herself as a top rock ’n’ roll photographer.

On May 11, 1968, when her portrait of Eric Clapton was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, 

she entered the record books as the first woman to have that honor. During her tenure as the 

leading photographer of the late 1960s’ musical scene, she captured many of rock’s most important 

musicians on film, including Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel,

The Who, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. In 1967, Linda went to London to document the 

"Swinging Sixties," where she met Paul McCartney at the Bag ’o Nails club and subsequently 

photographed the Beatles during a launch event for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Paul and Linda fell in love, and were married on March 12, 1969. For the next three decades, until her

untimely death, she devoted herself to her family, vegetarianism, animal rights, and photography.

From her early rock ’n’ roll portraits, through the final years of the Beatles, via touring with Wings to 

raising four children with Paul, Linda captured her whole world on film. Her shots range from 

spontaneous family pictures to studio sessions with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, as well 

as artists Willem de Kooning and Gilbert and George. Always unassuming and fresh, her work 

displays a warmth and feeling for the precise moment that captures the essence of any subject. 

Whether photographing her children, celebrities, animals, or a fleeting moment of everyday life, she

did so without pretension or artifice.

Jimi Hendrix

Stallion, Scotland, 1993

Paul and Martha, Londres, 1968

Paul McCartney, John Lennon

Spencer Dryden and Grace Slick, Twiggy

Paul McCartney with his daughters Heather and Mary

Pete Townshend and unknown

Paul McCartney

Twiggy

Paul's feet

Paul and Heather in the flowers, 1970

Paul with his daughter Mary

Heather, Mary and Paul McCartney

Brian Jones and Mick Jagger in New York in 1966

Stella McCartney

Janis Joplin

Paul McCartney and John Lennon

The Grateful Dead

Paul, Stella and James, Scotland, 1982

The Beatles, London, 1968

Jimi Hendrix Experience in London, 1967

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney with his stepdaughter Heather

Paul McCartney

Janis Joplin, Yoko Ono

Ray Charles, Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix

Paul McCartney with his daughter Heather

Heather and Mary(left), Paul and Mary (right)

Paul McCartney with John Lennon

Paul McCartney

Paul, Heather and Mary McCartney

Paul with his daughter Mary

Johnny Depp with Kate Moss

Stella McCartney, Montserrat, 1981

Linda McCartney with her husband Paul and daughters Heather and Mary by Alain DeJean

Heather, Stella, and Paul

(via Taschen)