The most important thing I gave the Beatles was my friendship. They trusted me: there was no fear in being photographed.

Astrid Kirchherr

When I met the Beatles, they were wearing these funny little leather jackets, which inspired me. I had a suit made for myself out of fine, good black leather. It looked different. I was using leather but putting a different fashion angle on how it looked.

Astrid Kirchherr

Our post-war generation were struggling to escape the past and the burden of guilt we carried and to find a new way.

Astrid Kirchherr

I've hardly taken a photograph since 1967.

Astrid Kirchherr

You expressed yourself by looking different from other people. We even looked different from each other. But among the Exis, there was a close group of us, Klaus Voormann, Jurgen Wollmer and me. Klaus and I always wore black.

Astrid Kirchherr

Well, the first time I met The Beatles was through my former boyfriend, Klaus Voormann, who saw them one night when he was wandering around Hamburg and then he heard this beautiful sound of rock 'n' roll music.

Astrid Kirchherr

When Stuart passed away, I was so young and so selfish about living and having fun.

Astrid Kirchherr

Black and white means photography to me. It's much easier to take a good color photograph, but you can get more drama into a black and white one.

Astrid Kirchherr

After Stu, I liked John and George. Then I like Pete Best. Paul I found hard to get close to.

Astrid Kirchherr

All my friends in art school used to run around with this sort of what you call Beatles haircut. And my boyfriend then, Klaus Voormann, had this hairstyle, and Stuart liked it very, very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem out of his hair and asking me to cut his hair for him.

Astrid Kirchherr

I was always introduced as the Beatles photographer and I gave it up in the end. I was so unsure of myself. Am I good or am I just the Beatles photographer? People were not interested in what I did before. I could not stand it any more.

Astrid Kirchherr

I was wanting something new, and for me the Beatles were... outstanding. I was breathless, speechless.

Astrid Kirchherr

We knew of Sartre and we dressed like the French existentialists. Our philosophy then, and remember we were only little kids, was more in following their looks than their thoughts. We were going around looking moody.

Astrid Kirchherr

Stuart was a very special person and he was miles ahead of everybody. You know as far as intelligent and artistic feelings are concerned, he was miles ahead. So I learned a lot from him and because in the '60s we had a very strange attitude towards being young, towards sex, towards everything.

Astrid Kirchherr

I was initially attracted to John when I first went to see them play. Then I got to know Stuart because he was John's best friend. Our hearts took over from there.

Astrid Kirchherr

Well when you're young, you're just in love and every day is so new and so fresh and so beautiful. You just don't think of the future.

Astrid Kirchherr

For me, they are still my dear friends, not the Beatles.

Astrid Kirchherr

I didn't take that many pictures of The Beatles, but I did photograph them before anybody else knew about them, and that makes me proud. I saw something in them.

Astrid Kirchherr

I like to choose the people I take photographs of, but when you make your living off it, you've got to take everybody.

Astrid Kirchherr

From the first time I saw them, I knew they weren't just five dirty little boys from Liverpool without an education.

Astrid Kirchherr

Astrid Kirchherr Quotes

The most important thing I gave the Beatles was my friendship. They trusted me: there was no fear in being photographed.

When I met the Beatles, they were wearing these funny little leather jackets, which inspired me. I had a suit made for myself out of fine, good black leather. It looked different. I was using leather but putting a different fashion angle on how it looked.

Our post-war generation were struggling to escape the past and the burden of guilt we carried and to find a new way.

I've hardly taken a photograph since 1967.

You expressed yourself by looking different from other people. We even looked different from each other. But among the Exis, there was a close group of us, Klaus Voormann, Jurgen Wollmer and me. Klaus and I always wore black.

Well, the first time I met The Beatles was through my former boyfriend, Klaus Voormann, who saw them one night when he was wandering around Hamburg and then he heard this beautiful sound of rock 'n' roll music.

When Stuart passed away, I was so young and so selfish about living and having fun.

Black and white means photography to me. It's much easier to take a good color photograph, but you can get more drama into a black and white one.

After Stu, I liked John and George. Then I like Pete Best. Paul I found hard to get close to.

I was always introduced as the Beatles photographer and I gave it up in the end. I was so unsure of myself. Am I good or am I just the Beatles photographer? People were not interested in what I did before. I could not stand it any more.

I was wanting something new, and for me the Beatles were... outstanding. I was breathless, speechless.

We knew of Sartre and we dressed like the French existentialists. Our philosophy then, and remember we were only little kids, was more in following their looks than their thoughts. We were going around looking moody.

Stuart was a very special person and he was miles ahead of everybody. You know as far as intelligent and artistic feelings are concerned, he was miles ahead. So I learned a lot from him and because in the '60s we had a very strange attitude towards being young, towards sex, towards everything.

I was initially attracted to John when I first went to see them play. Then I got to know Stuart because he was John's best friend. Our hearts took over from there.

Well when you're young, you're just in love and every day is so new and so fresh and so beautiful. You just don't think of the future.

For me, they are still my dear friends, not the Beatles.

I didn't take that many pictures of The Beatles, but I did photograph them before anybody else knew about them, and that makes me proud. I saw something in them.

I like to choose the people I take photographs of, but when you make your living off it, you've got to take everybody.

From the first time I saw them, I knew they weren't just five dirty little boys from Liverpool without an education.