All four Beatles gathered at EMI Studios on the morning of Friday 8 August 1969 for one of the most famous photo shoots of their career. Photographer Iain Macmillan took the famous image that adorned their last-recorded album, Abbey Road.
Here is a photograph taken on the same day, showing the empty crossing.
Iain Macmillan was a freelance photographer and a friend to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He used a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm wide-angle lens, aperture f22, at 1/500 seconds.
Prior to the shoot, Paul McCartney had sketched his ideas for the cover, to which Macmillan added a more detailed illustration.
As the group waited outside the studio for the shoot to begin, Linda McCartney took a number of extra photographs.
A policeman held up the traffic as Macmillan, from a stepladder positioned in the middle of the road, took six shots as the group walked across the zebra crossing just outside the studio.
The Beatles crossed the road a number of times while Macmillan photographed them. 8 August was a hot day in north London, and for four of the six photographs McCartney walked barefoot; for the other two he wore sandals.
Shortly after the shoot, McCartney studied the transparencies and chose the fifth one for the album cover. It was the only one when all four Beatles were walking in time. It also satisfied The Beatles' desire for the world to see them walking away from the studios they had spent so much of the last seven years inside.
Macmillan also took a photograph of a nearby tiled street sign for the back cover. The sign has since been replaced, but was situated at the corner of Abbey Road and Alexandra Road. The junction no longer exists; the road was later replaced by the Abbey Road housing estate, between Boundary Road and Belsize Road.
On 22 May 2012 one of the outtakes from the photography session sold at auction in London for £16,000 ($25,000).
The vast number of stories about that shoot are funny to think of now. Paul was dead because he wasn't wearing shoes, I buried Paul on the album, innumerable facts about the cars etc and none of it is true. The shoot was just taken, nothing set up
Bless the Beatles forever
Well, of course the photo was "set-up."
The Beatles used "deceit" as a means of drawing publicity. All of the "Paul is dead" clues were "a coincidence (according to The Beatles)."
Do you believe that (maybe) the four most famous guys in the world couldn't find four red carnations during the filming of Magical Mystery Tour and Paul just "happened" to wear the only black carnation? According to The Beatles, that's what happened.
We're still talking (writing) about it 45 years later!!
They probably gave Paul the black carnation in MMT because at that point they WISHED he was dead. The Beatles had much better (and worse) things to deal with in this period than to try to perpetuate an absurd fan rumor.
I think what people forget is the Beatles more than anyone understood the value/ non-value of "meaning". John's writing in 67 was absurdist and confounding because he understood that no matter what he said it would be parsed for deeper meaning. So the Beatles became masters of the random- i.e. Strawberry Fields and Walrus. They did whatever they did and let other people make stuff up because that was what they were going to do anyway. And we're still doing it. But of course it's all a moot point because they never really existed.
And John was the black wizard in MMT! The other three being in red
The fact that Paul wore sandals in two of the shots proves there was no intent to give a clue about his "death". It was just another photo shoot, as shivabeach also observed.
What's really cool is that these are pics of the Beatles that even I have never seen; and I thought I'd seen them all!
is it a coincidence that there is a VW beetle parked on the side of the road?
The VW Beetle belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio. They tried to have it moved but the owner was on holiday so they just left it there. After the album was released, the number plate (LMW 281F) was stolen repeatedly from the car. In 1986, the car was sold at auction for £2,530 and in 2001 was on display in a museum in Germany
I don't see the VW in the morning photo. So, if the car's owner was on a "holiday", why wasn't the VW parked there?. Was the "beetle" parked later to be with the "beatles" in the mid-morning shoot? (see the shadows).
picture was taken from the other direction as if you look closely it's different
Daniel is right! The picture is the same shot without the Beatles in. It isn't taken from the other side.
You can see the white pillars on the left in both shots. You can see the horizontal line in the tarmac behind Ringo's head in both and the big branch high in the middle of the picture is in both.
If the photo without the VW had been taken from the other direction it would have been totally different. Right behind the camera on the cover photo is the corner of Grove End Road. This junction would have taken up most of the shot if the photo had been taken from the other direction
Funny about the guy's license plate being continuously stolen. In the US, he'd get a new plate with a different plate number.
In New York someone has a personalized plate# 'LMW281F'. It must belong to a Beatle fan willing to spend about $50/year (£32/year) extra for the plates.
Actually no, it's the same spot. Facing the other way would reveal a very obvious island and sculpture in the road. The VW was parked there after the first shot.
No one ever mentions that Paul had just turned 27 - i guess he was in his 28th year of life??
One of the "clues" that Paul was dead was the plate, 28IF -- he'd be 28 if he lived. Also, his eyes are closed, he's out of step with the others, he's smoking and he's barefoot (as are bodies when buried). The others are dressed - John in white as a preacher, George in jeans like a gravedigger, Ringo in black like a pallbearer.
plz. paul is out of step. cig in right hand. a well planned out picture. RIP Paul Cole in right side. Lennon represented God,Ringo the preacher,Paul the body & George the grave gigger.
please, with your absurd PID bullsh*t. would you say the other five shots are "well planned out"? clearly it was all very random and only one shot was usable. i can't believe people are still on about that nonsense. it's embarrassing. and John was killed by the CIA, right? amazing.
No. John was the Minister, Ringo, the Undertaker, Paul, the "Corpse" and George, the Gravedigger...
Someone above mentioned"I buried Paul" being on Abbey Road," but that was at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever," 2 years earlier. I think The Bealtles played up the "Paul is Dead" hoax, and palnted "clues... They were "Merry Pranksters," ya know!
I agree, John. I think they knew they weren't going to stop the rumours from spreading, so they planted more 'clues'. But I don’t think all these clues were intended – some, but not all.
I wonder where that original street sign is now and how much it would be worth.
Four of the original tiles came up for sale on the Channel4 programme Four Rooms 1n 2012 They went for £7,000. They were the A a B the E and the Y. Andrew Lamberty bought them and he hopes to flog them for up to £16,000 each on ebay. Tidy profit.
my uncle still owns the 32 ford with all the beatles in the car in NYC its on the inside cover , was shot in manhatten . how cool is that ?
I've no idea which photograph you're referring to. There was no gatefold cover or inner sleeve artwork for Abbey Road.
that would be cool i suppose if there were such a thing. what is he talking about?