Behind the scenes of The Beatles' famous photo shoot for the Abbey Road album cover

On September 26, 1969, The Beatles' twelfth studio album, Abbey Road, was released in England. The recording of the album was the last collaboration of all four members of the group. Let's see how the famous photo shoot for the legendary cover went.

Photographer Iain MacMillan had only 10 minutes to shoot the cover, which took place on August 8, 1969. A section of Abbey Road, one of London's busiest streets, has been temporarily closed. Climbing the stairs, the photographer took six photographs, one of which made it onto the cover.

The cover, which became widely known, was designed by Apple Records creative director John Kosh. Abbey Road is the only British Beatles album to not feature either the artist or title on the cover. The record company EMI warned that the record would not be sold without this information.

On a hot August 8th, around half past twelve, Ian MacMillan, a freelance photographer and friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, arrived at the studio building on Abbey Road.

The Beatles were waiting for the photographer on the porch.

McMillan had only 10 minutes to take the desired photograph. Especially for this purpose, the police blocked off the area of the already busy Abbey Road.

Using a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm wide angle lens at f22 at 1/500th of a second, Ian took the first 3 photos while standing on a stepladder. Afterwards we had to stop and let some of the cars pass and only then finish filming the remaining three. A total of six photographs were taken, one of which was placed on the cover.

The famous Volkswagen Beetle with number LMW281F, standing next to the crossing, belonged to a resident of one of the neighboring houses. After the release of the album, the plate with the number was stolen several times. In 1986, the car was sold at Sotheby's to an American collector for £2,530.

View from the opposite side of the crossing.