Biography
“It was as perfect a day as I could wish for. Getting to hang out with one of my favourite bands and take pictures was just sensational. Were they really mad? Well, you know what pop stars are like. They’re always running around doing crazy things. That’s what makes them so interesting”
Tom Murray
Internationally recognised photographer Tom Murray first came to prominence with his iconic portraits of The Beatles ‘Mad Day Out’ taken during the summer of 1968.
He began his career in Africa during the early 1960s as a newspaper photographer for The Zambia News and Times. It was during this time that Murray was asked to set up a studio for PACT – the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal, and during this four year period he won his first of three World Press awards for work in music, drama and ballet photography.
On his return to the UK, he spent five years at the Sunday Times Magazine, a ground-breaking colour magazine and the first of its kind. During his tenure with the Times Murray worked alongside Lord Snowdon, Helmut Newton, Eve Arnold, and Norman Parkinson amongst others, and in 1969 he became the youngest photographer commissioned by the Royal Family at just 25.
In 1968 he accompanied veteran war photojournalist Don McCullin on a shoot with The Beatles, who were in the midst of recording The White Album. At a time when the band was largely keeping away from the public eye, Murray was one of a select few given carte blanche to capture the most elusive and important band in the world. Armed with just two rolls of film and a Nikon F:35mm, Murray produced some of the most revered colour images of the band in a variety of locations around London.
The shoot was so last minute and the schedule so hectic that the collection of images became known as their ‘Mad Day Out’: “It really was a mad day rushing around London. We would get half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes at the most in any one place before too many people arrived, which was really good. I doubt you could do it today. You’d be inundated with screaming fans and paparazzi in about 30 seconds!”
Tom Murray
The day after the shoot The Beatles recorded Hey Jude. Murray’s two rolls of film were processed and printed, and then incredibly, stored away, unseen for almost 30 years before they were shown for the first time in 2007. To this day, these portraits are considered amongst the most important in the band’s history.
In addition to The Beatles, Murray has captured a plethora of international icons, including Elizabeth Taylor, HRH Princess Margaret, Giorgia Armani, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Angelica Huston, Sir Hardy Aimes, Richard Burton, and more. His work has also appeared in various publications, including GQ, Vogue, LA Times, New York Times and The London Times.
Exhibitions
Media
Read: Time Magazine (2016)
Tom Murray's Mad Day Out with The Beatles
