Editing Astrid Kirchherr (section)

==Freelance photographer==
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In 1964, Kirchherr became a freelance photographer, and with her colleague Max Scheler she took "behind the scenes" photographs of the Beatles during the filming of ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]'', as an assignment for the German ''[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]'' magazine. Epstein had forbidden any publicity photographs to be taken without his permission, but Kirchherr phoned Harrison, who said he would arrange it, but added, "Only if they pay you."<ref name="FreshAirinterviewwithAstrid"/>

[[File:St George's Hall, Liverpool2.jpg|250px|right|thumb|St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Kirchherr took photographs of Liverpool groups as they stood on the front steps]]
''[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]'' phoned Bill Harry at his ''[[Mersey Beat]]'' newspaper and asked if he could arrange a photograph of all the groups in Liverpool,<ref name="PhotographsofMaxSchelerAstrid Kirchherr">{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/fame/liverpool.html |title=Liverpool Days: The Photographs of Max Scheler And Astrid Kirchherr |publisher=Genesis Publications |access-date=30 May 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090608035440/http://www.genesis-publications.com/fame/liverpool.html| archive-date=8 June 2009| url-status= live}}</ref> so Harry suggested Kirchherr be the photographer, although Kirchherr later said she placed an advertisement in the ''[[Liverpool Echo]]'' newspaper.<ref name="FreshAirinterviewwithAstrid"/> Kirchherr and Scheler said that any group who wanted their photograph taken in front of [[St. George's Hall, Liverpool|St. George's Hall]] would be paid  per musician,<ref name="AstridKirchherrBeatlesPhotographerInterviewed"/> but over 200 groups turned up on the day, which meant Kirchherr and Scheler soon ran out of money.<ref name="InterviewBBCLiverpool"/><ref name="ThephotographsMaxSchelerAstrid Kirchherr">{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/fame/liverpool.html |title=Liverpool days: The photographs of Max Scheler and Astrid Kirchherr |publisher=Genesis publications |access-date=30 May 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090608035440/http://www.genesis-publications.com/fame/liverpool.html| archive-date=8 June 2009| url-status= live}}</ref> Kirchherr didn't publish the photographs until 1995, in a book called ''Liverpool Days'', which is a [[Limited edition books|limited-edition]] collection of black-and-white photographs.<ref name="InterviewBBCLiverpool"/> In 1999, a companion book called ''Hamburg Days'' was published (a two-volume limited edition), containing a set of photographs by Kirchherr and "memory drawings" by Voormann. The drawings are recollections of places and situations that Voormann clearly remembers, but Kirchherr had never photographed, or had lost the photographs.<ref name="HamburgDays">{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/ham/index.html |title=Hamburg Days|publisher=Genesis publications |access-date=30 May 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110711084702/http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/ham/index.html| archive-date= 11 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Kirchherr described how difficult it was to be accepted as a female photographer in the 1960s: "Every magazine and newspaper wanted me to photograph the Beatles again. Or they wanted my old stuff, even if it was out of focus, whether they were nice or not. They wouldn't look at my other work. It was very hard for a girl photographer in the 60s to be accepted. In the end I gave up. I've hardly taken a photo since 1967."<ref name="AstridonLife">{{cite web |url=http://www.center-of-beat.com/en_ak.php |title=Astrid Kirchherr K&K biog |publisher=Center of Beat |access-date=30 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708131727/http://www.center-of-beat.com/en_ak.php |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 
Kirchherr was quoted as saying that ''When We Was Fab'' ([[Genesis Publications]] 2007), would be her last book of photographs: "I have decided it is time to create one book in which I am totally involved so that it contains the pictures I like most, printed the way I would print them, even down to the text and design.... This book is me and that is why it will be the last one. The very last one."<ref name="WhenWeWasFab">{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/fab/index.html |title=When We Was Fab |publisher=Genesis publications |access-date=30 May 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110711085039/http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/fab/index.html| archive-date= 11 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Kirchherr expressed respect for other photographers, such as [[Annie Leibovitz]] (because of the humour in her work), [[Irving Penn]], [[Richard Avedon]], Jim Rakete and Reinhard Wolf (German Wikipedia), and French film-makers [[François Truffaut]], and [[Jean Cocteau]].<ref name="InterviewAstridKirchherrRetrosellers"/> Kirchherr said that her favourite photos are the ones she took of Sutcliffe by the Baltic sea, and of Lennon and Harrison in her attic room at 45a Eimsbütteler Strasse. She expressed reservations about digital photography, saying that a photographer should concentrate on the art of photography and not on the technical results, although admitting that she knew nothing about computers and was "afraid of the internet".<ref name="InterviewAstridKirchherrRetrosellers"/>

Kirchherr admitted she was not good at business because of insufficient organisation, and had never really looked after the negatives of her photographs to prove ownership.<ref name="AstridonLife"/> Her business partner Ulf Krüger—a songwriter and record producer—successfully found many of Astrid's negatives and photographs and had them copyrighted, although he believes that Kirchherr lost much over the years because of people using her photographs without permission.<ref name="AstridKirchherrBeatlesPhotographerInterviewed"/><ref name="AstridonLife"/> In July 2001, Kirchherr visited Liverpool to open an exhibition of her work at the [[Mathew Street]] art gallery, which is close to the former site of [[The Cavern Club]]. She appeared as a guest at the city's Beatles Week Festival during the August Bank Holiday.<ref name="FabFourphotographersdisplay">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1435450.stm |title=Fab Four photographer's display |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 May 2011 | date=12 July 2001}}</ref> Kirchherr's work has been exhibited internationally in places, such as Hamburg, Bremen, London, Liverpool, New York City, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Vienna,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4G_Xx9AplVcC&pg=PT15|title=Astrid Kirchherr: A Retrospective|publisher=Liverpool University Press|year=2010|editor1-last=Clough|editor1-first=Matthew H.|editor2-last=Fallows|editor2-first=Colin|page=28|isbn=9781846314773}}</ref> and at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.<ref name=LAT>{{cite news|title=Astrid Kirchherr, Beatles photographer and collaborator, dead at 81|url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-05-15/astrid-kirchherr-beatles-photographer-dead|first=Hillel|last=Italie|date=15 May 2020|access-date=15 May 2020|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>