Photos of John Lennon featured in exhibit
By Zachary Lewis
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An exhibition titled “The Lost Weekend – The Photography of May Pang” that showcases photos of John Lennon and friends will be held at Creative Framing Solutions in Manchester on Tuesday, Oct. 1, from 3 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 3 to 8 p.m.
May Pang was romantically involved and worked with John Lennon during the time period dubbed as the “Lost Weekend” that took place from late 1973 through 1975.
Pang spoke about the photographs and how the exhibit came to life: “I was in the middle of also doing my movie, The Lost Weekend – A Love Story, but no one knew that. And I was using some of my photographs for that, so I just sort of kept it under wraps.”
The documentary can be viewed online now and helps give context to the photographs. Scott Segelbaum, owner of the Rock Art Show, who helps put on the gallery showings, was persistent in getting Pang to display her art.
“I truly didn’t think people would be interested. And he kept saying, you’re wrong,” Pang said.
Ultimately Pang dug out the images, to the delight of Beatles and John Lennon fans everywhere.
“They were sitting under my bed. I have a storage unit and it was always sitting under my bed and I never really thought anything of it. They’re my home photos when I was living with John,” Pang Said.
Some photos will be recognizable to fans. “One of the photos was John’s favorite and when people come to the exhibition I point that out. It is the single sleeve cover for the U.K., because Imagine was being released three years from its initial release of the album, and he wanted to use that particular photo that I took of him for the sleeve,” she said.
Other albums include her artwork too. “And then a couple of years ago, Julian, his son, wrote to me and said, do you have any pictures of me from when I was young? And I never know if I have whatever in my collection, so I sent him a couple of photos, and that became the album cover,” Pang said. The album from Julian Lennon was Jude, which came out in 2022.
Besides the artwork, Pang was involved with recording and producing the songs of John Lennon along with George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, Mick Jagger and more. “And then we did David Bowie with Fame, hung out on that one,” Pang said.
According to Pang, John Lennon would let songs naturally grow in the studio. “It was more organic. John understood what he wanted in the studio. It depends on what part of the process we’re in. He knows what he wants and then at that time he’ll go and figure it out. Like he’ll say, ‘I need a chorus, I need people to sing here,’ or ‘I want this sound.’ He hears it as it goes along. So the first part is him just laying down the basic tracks and then he works it from there,” she said.
Outside of the recording studio Lennon was enthusiastic and encouraging about Pang’s photography. “He was the one that kept pushing me to take more photographs. I think it’s a great thing to see. What you’re seeing is, as I always say, you’re seeing pictures of John and everybody else through my eyes, the way I saw them,” Pang said.
What type of equipment did Pang use to capture what her eye saw in these moments? “Well at the time I was using my Nikon. I mean we had our Polaroids, that was great, but when it came to using the camera I used my Nikkormat, one of the other versions of the Nikon in the Nikon family. And I had a great lens, I used a portrait lens that I was using all the time and that’s what most of my pictures are from. I like using film and I like using black and white, some of my favorite, but then you use color and you get slides and so the film process is really nice. It’s just really dynamic.”
Of all her photographs, Pang could not pick a favorite. “Everybody asks that and it’s very difficult to say, oh yeah, that’s what I want, that’s my favorite, only because they’re like my kids. You know, you can’t show favorites.”
The last photo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, from March 29, 1974, will be at the exhibit. “The photo was the first time that they had seen each other in a few years. And then, I never took another photo of the two of them and nobody else did either,” she said.
Pang mentioned that Lennon and McCartney’s relationship was not as sour as it is sometimes represented. “A lot of people think that they were always arguing. They weren’t. They’d come over, you know, chat, we’d go, what’s going on, where did you go, what’s your next project, that’s the type of thing that went on,” Pang said.
Pang is happy to have a chance to share her photographs to the world and New Hampshire. “It’s like a gallery, they can come and see it, it’s all free. I’m just very happy about it and I appreciate all the people that come out and check out the artwork,” she said.
The Lost Weekend – The Photography of May Pang
When: Tuesday, Oct. 1, and Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 3 to 8 p.m.
Where: Creative Framing Solutions, 410 Chestnut St., Manchester, creativeframingsolutions.com, 320-5988
Note: Pang will only autograph items purchased at the gallery.
Featured image: May Pang with artwork 2023. Courtesy photo.
