Starting Over with John and Yoko: The Photographs

by Roger Farrington, Kenneth Womack

“This is one to linger over.” ― Publishers Weekly On August 7, 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono made their triumphant return to the recording studio after a self-imposed five-year absence. Roger Farrington, an up-and-coming photographer from Boston, was hired to get “the shot” that would announce their comeback. It would be Lennon’s most intense press scrutiny since the heady days of the Beatles’ maiden voyage to America in 1964, and for Farrington, it would be the assignment of a lifetime. Just four months later, Lennon’s assassination would plunge the world into mourning.Reproducing, for the first time, the entire run of Farrington’s iconic photographs from that day, Starting Over transports readers back to 1980 and into Manhattan’s Hit Factory, where Lennon and Ono recorded their acclaimed LP Double Fantasy. With supporting photos and other ephemera, Farrington and renowned Beatles historian Kenneth Womack capture a poignant moment in music history and provide an insider’s look at celebrity photography in the pre-digital age.

164 pages, Paperback

Published September 8, 2026

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Featuring the photos from johns last recording session in August 1980 this book covers the entire shoot and details in a lot of dense text how it all occurred.