Thursday, February 22, 2007

Gered Mankowitz's best shot / The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones
Photo by Gered Mankowitz

Gered Mankowitz's best shot

'It's a slightly stoned viewpoint that summed up that period in British music'

Leo Benedictus

Thu 22 Feb 2007

Recording through the night was a regular occurrence with the Rolling Stones in 1966. Tumbling out of the studio in the early hours was exhilarating and I thought it would be a great time to do a photo session for their next album, Between the Buttons, when they had that fantastic lived-in look.

I used a home-made filter smeared with Vaseline to create this streaky effect. I knew you'd get this fantastical, slightly stoned viewpoint, which seemed to sum up that period in British music. The actual image used on the cover was in colour and has been lost, but I also did a roll of black and white.

At 6am, we bundled into cars and drove to Primrose Hill. It was very cold. I think it was November, and when you've been up all night, you feel worn out anyway. But everybody was up for it. As we walked up the hill, we heard music and silhouetted at the top, was this lone figure playing the flute. It was just so 60s.

It's the band at the peak of their initial success, when there was still a freshness and naivety about them. The only one who was difficult was Brian. He had this big coat and kept disappearing into the collar. If he didn't think he was the centre of attention, he would get bored and play up, so I put him in the middle. I knew their interest would fall away rapidly, so I was running around trying to reload, while their manager tried to get them to pay attention. It was all seat-of-the-pants stuff.

THE GUARDIAN