The Rolling Stones' First Official Photo Session: Nicholas Wright Captures the Anti-Beatles

The band’s first official photo session happened in early 1963, shortly after Andrew Loog Oldham took over as manager. Oldham wanted to position the Stones as the gritty, dangerous alternative to the clean-cut Beatles, so he hired photographer Nicholas Wright to shoot them in a London studio and then on the streets.

Wright’s images leaned into that contrast. He shot the band in tight black clothes, with Brian Jones’s hair wild and Jagger’s lips pouting — no smiles, no polished lighting. The photos ran in local music papers and helped establish the “bad boy” look that would define the group for years.

Oldham later said Wright understood the assignment: make them look like they’d steal your girlfriend. The session cost £50 and produced the band’s first consistent visual identity. Most of the negatives are now in the archive of the National Portrait Gallery.