Photos of the Beatles before their fame on display in London

and the photo that is Paul McCartney recorded at a time when The Beatles were on the verge of global fame will be shown in an exhibition that reveals intimate moments as the group first experienced fame.

The exhibition “Back Through the Looking Glass: Liverpool-London-Paris”, which will open at the Gagosian Gallery in London on August 28, features 18 recordings made by the singer-songwriter in late 1963, after the release of the Beatles' first album, and early 1964, during their tour of the US.

Joshua Chuang, director of photography at Gagosian, said the photos show the Beatles before they were swept up in the fame that followed just a few months later.

“The period when Paul was taking the most photos coincided with the time when they actually had time. When they weren't completely overwhelmed by excessive exposure and demand,” Chuang recounted.

The Beatles released their first two albums in 1963, “Please Please Me” and “With the Beatles,” which catapulted them into the public spotlight. In the fall of 1963, McCartney decided to pick up a camera, long before he and the band became some of the most photographed people on the planet. He bought a simple Pentax and used mostly black-and-white Kodak and Ilford film, and in early 1964, he took a small number of color photographs.

“I think they knew history was happening. They wanted to record it and do it themselves. They picked up a camera for the same reason anyone else does - to have their own perspective,” Chuang said, adding that these are introspective self-portraits taken before performances and interviews.