amoralto:

Not surprisingly, the photographs of Lennon and McCartney working – or at least fooling around on the guitar and piano – are the most striking, and not just because of our knowledge of the songwriters they were to become. The intensity of their creative association is almost palpable. Their expressions here are more abstracted than in the other photos, but paradoxically, these pictures feel more intimate, as if at their dreamiest the songwriters were most real.

— Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post: The Beatles’ blue album; Harry Benson’s early photos. (January 10th, 1999)