Newly Released Photos Reveal Lennon's Final Days
"These are your photos but just be careful how you use them," photographer Allan Tannenbaum recalls that Yoko Ono advised on a series of intimate portraits he took of her and her husband John Lennon in November 1980. At the time of the conversation, neither had any idea that 10 days later the former Beatle would be dead.
Despite many opportunities in the months that followed to publish the images, Tannenbaum opted to guard most of the pictures until now — 27 year years later. They appear in his new book, Yoko and John: A New York Love Story, a sort of peephole into the couple's final days together.
Initially Tannenbaum, then an employee of the SoHo Weekly News, only planned to photograph the artistic duo in New York's Central Park. While snapping them, however, he overheard something about a shoot for a video promoting their new album, Double Fantasy.
"I kind of invited myself," recalls Tannenbaum, who suggested he attend as a stills photographer.
At first Ono was hesitant. After five years out of the public eye, the couple was just beginning to warm up to the media. Following coffee, however, Ono told him, "John feels comfortable with you so you'll come with us to the studio."
Source: npr books
from November 9th 2007
