Dream Lovers: John and Yoko in NYC: The Photographs of Brian Hamill

Product Description

New and unseen photographs of Beatles icon, John Lennon, and artist Yoko Ono
Featuring images from Lennon’s full-length solo gig at Madison Square Garden
Includes essays by journalist and author Pete Hamill, director Barry Levinson, actor Dana Delany and songwriter and photographer David Palmer
Foreword by actor Alec Baldwin

John Lennon’s life, death and music shaped the world. His reputation as a philanthropist, political activist and pacifist influenced millions worldwide. If Elvis was King, Lennon was his rightful successor – and fittingly, several images in this collection of both classic and unseen photos show him wearing a diamond-studded ‘Elvis’ pin over his heart, in homage to his forefather on the throne of Rock ‘n’ Roll. John Lennon
is seen here in several sessions in New York, performing on stage, relaxed at home and walking on the street with Yoko Ono.
Renowned celebrity photojournalist Brian Hamill delivers his own insider view of this Beatles icon, through intense, intimate photographic portraits and insightful texts. Whether Lennon is dominating the stage, posing on the roof of the Dakota building, or relaxing with Yoko Ono, Hamill’s photography takes this quasi-mythical figure from the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll and shows him as the man he really was.”Brian looked at the John Lennon who had become an icon and saw instead a familiar face. He saw a working-class hero like those that built the City of New York. And so when John Lennon came to live in New York, Brian captured him as a New Yorker, in the joyous images that you will find in this book.” – Pete Hamill”Lennon, one of the most famous men in human history, wanted to live as one among many. Of course, he hit it off with Hamill. The guy that flew so high needed some oxygen. Hamill is fresh air. His folio of Lennon images shows Lennon focused, present, but edgy, never relaxed.” – Alec Baldwin

Review

As with all Hamill’s work, his images of the Beatle and his artist wife – newly published in a photo book titled Dream Lovers – are masterfully composed and wonderfully candid. — Daisy Woodward ―
AnOther Magazine

Brian Hamill is best known as a still photographer and a photojournalist. But I’ve always regarded him -first and foremost- as a master portraitist. And this book bears that out – capturing as it does, the many-faceted phenomenon that was John and Yoko – artists, lovers, cultural comrades and – most elusively- business partners.Behind his camera, Hamill is something of a phenomenon himself. — Richard Price, novelist and screenwriter

From the Author

Since I was a young boy I realized the importance of photographs. As I got older and received a gift of a camera from my older brother I was able to enjoy the rewards of making my snapshots evolve into a series of stepping-stones that led to good photographs. After studying photography and having the hunger for extensive travel I realized my photographs would become a passport to a larger world than my beloved Brooklyn neighborhood. Since the publication of my first “professional” photographs in 1965 for The Saturday Evening Post,  my work path led me down a road of photojournalism.  That work also led me to a very successful career doing photographs for motion pictures. My photography’s work criss-crossed both paths. The concurrent work of each type of image-making further led me onto a path generating investment-quality fine art photography that are displayed in galleries, and to the purchase of my fine-art prints all over the world. Some of my images have been considered historical documents. My hope is that people will not only stop and look at my photographs, but they will also see the images, and take home their own mental captions and titles to keep the image(s) in their brain, their heart, and in their soul. 

My respect goes to a number of master photographers whose work I have loved but their bodies have gone back to nature. They will always be alive as long as their a