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John Lennon In 1975: From The Archives Of Rowland Scherman
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 13, 2013
Modified Feb 13, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 13, 2013
Modified Feb 13, 2013
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Photographer Rowland Scherman, who grew up in Pelham Manor, NY, began his career as the first photographer for the newly formed Peace Corps in 1961. He went on to work for the likes of Life, Time, National Geographic, Playboy, and countless other magazines. He even won a Grammy Award for his iconic photograph cover of "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits."
But as far as Rowland is concerned, he views himself as "the Forrest Gump of Photography," consistently stumbling into the right place at the right time—and he was there to document some of the most iconic moments of the 1960s and 1970s. For the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at some of his incredible photos and the stories behind them, including pictures of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Woodstock, the March on Washington, John Lennon, Bobby Kennedy, and more. To see more of his work, check out his website here—and also make sure to check out the trailer for a documentary being made about him here.
Previously, we got a peek at a very young Bob Dylan making his debut at Newport Folk Festival in 1963, dipped our toes into Woodstock, admired Janis Joplin, learned how Rowland ended up on the "Woodstock" album, and saw the Beatles on their first U.S. tour in 1964. Now, Rowland tells us about randomly running into John Lennon in the mid-70s.
I was walking around London at the same time that John Lennon happened to be walking around London. He was being followed around by a horde of thousands of people, and it turned out he was leading a march for peace in Northern Ireland or something like that.
It was just 1975, I was stumbling around London, and there he was. I ran to the front of this march to see what was happening, and there John Lennon was. And he was with Yoko, and I got a good photo of the Working Man's Hero, which he was indeed.
There was nobody like him. Nobody, not Frank Sinatra, nobody else would put full-page ads in the New York Times saying, "The war is over if you want it." He really walked the walk as well as talked the talk. So they had to kill him.
Man, I'm getting the reputation of being the Forrest Gump of Photography, stumbling around to the right places.
Tagged
beatles
john lennon
Music
photography
rock
rowland scherman
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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