Behind the scenes with Mary McCartney
Published Date: 12 June 2009
By Sarah Freeman
Mary McCartney grew up with an insider's view of celebrity.


The eldest daughter of Sir Paul and Linda McCartney may have had a famously
unstarry upbringing on a Scottish farm, but by the time she reached her teens
she had also travelled the world and met the great and the good of the music
industry.

So when she did eventually follow in her mother's photographic footsteps, it was
no surprise that she preferred to focus her lens behind the scenes of the world
of fashion and entertainment.

For the last 15 years she has been building an impressive portfolio of work and
after solo exhibitions in London and Dallas, she has now been persuaded to
unveil a collection of her prints in a quiet corner of North Yorkshire.

Ms McCartney is another big name coup for Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, which
has previously hosted exhibitions by the likes of Bryan Adams and Police
guitarist Andy Summers.

"One day I received an email asking if I would be interested in exhibiting in
Yorkshire," said Ms McCartney. "It just looked like a really beautiful place so
I knew I had to say yes.

"Some of the photographs are taken backstage at the Royal Ballet, others I hope
capture the atmosphere of a fashion show before the models step on the catwalk,
but all have a common theme.

"It's about capturing an intimate moment in time and showing people a different
perspective on a particular world."

Ms McCartney decided to take up photography after helping her late mother Linda
sought through her contact sheets. She went out on her own in the in mid 1990s.

"I was always interested in photography, but for a long time I didn't know what
place it would have in my life," she says.

"Mum wasn't interested in celebrity or easily impressed, all she wanted to do
through her work was capture the essence of a person. She was an incredibly
natural photographer."

As Ms McCartney's career took off, her mother was always on the phone for
support and just before she died from breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 56,
they were working together on a cookery book.

"The cook book had been a lot of fun, it was just sad the portrait I did of her
for the inside ended up being the last photograph of her ever taken. It was
obviously a horrible time for all of us and if I can use my position to help
cancer charities raise their profile, I'm more than happy to do it."

Ms McCartney will turn 40 this summer and admits a few years ago she would have
been dreading the milestone birthday. However, if her mother's death taught her
anything, it was to enjoy every single moment.

"I remember mum saying, 'I can't believe that in four years time I'm going to be
60'," she says. "Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with the cancer. She made
me realise how precious time is."

Mary McCartney, Collective Works, Nunnington Hall, June 16 to July 26. 01432 748
283.