Pattie taken on honeymoon in Barbados with George Harrison, 1966

The name Pattie Boyd is synonymous with 60s counter-culture, from fashion to music to spirituality. Granting full and intimate access to her personal archive for the first time, the model and photographer shares over 300 pictures and artworks in a new book – and talks us through them. Pattie Boyd: My Life in Pictures is published by Reel Art Press. All photographs: Pattie Boyd Archive

George Harrison & Pattie in Rose Garden, 1968

‘Putting my camera on a tripod I wanted to capture the roses in bloom. A willing model, George, and I stood waiting for the shutter to click ... he impatiently looked away and I looked worried! If I had known this photo would have become so popular I might have fixed my hair!’

George Harrison, 1968

Pattie’s love of photography developed around the time of her marriage to Harrison. She documented their life together in the middle of Beatlemania and, later, her second marriage to Clapton. This is the last photograph where George looks really calm before entering the storm of being a businessman as well as a musician

Paul McCartney and John Lennon in India, 1968

A driving force in the Beatles’ interest in eastern spirituality, Boyd was the first to be initiated into Transcendental Meditation started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who then encouraged the band to go to India, while she and Harrison famously embraced yoga and vegetarianism back in England. ‘During our meditation lessons in Rishikesh, India, there would be time to capture lovely images like this one of Paul and John. I wish I had taken each of them aside and asked “Can I do a few portraits?” They wouldn’t have minded’

George Harrison on Triumph at Friar Park, 1970

‘George riding his cousin Greg’s bike as he was staying with us having a short break from Miami’

George Harrison, Eric Clapton perform with Delaney & Bonnie, 1969

This was the first time George and Eric played in public together. Pattie is famously the inspiration for George Harrison’s Something, described by Frank Sinatra as ‘the greatest love song of the past 50 years’. She also inspired Eric Clapton’s Layla and Wonderful Tonight

Working with Eric Clapton, 1974/1975

‘Eric and I worked together cutting and pasting ideas for the artwork for his next album, There’s One in Every Crowd’

Eric Clapton hotel room, 1974

‘My first time on tour with Eric and I couldn’t resist taking this photo of the sofa and matching figure in the painting. Eric encouraged me to buy a camera and to ask questions of everybody I worked with, to check where they put their lights etc. I was working and learning at the same time’

Kaleidoscope by Eric Clapton, 1976

‘Eric took this photo of me while we were living in the Bahamas in 1976 using a multifaceted lens on the Nikon’

First modelling shoot by Anthony Norris, 1962

Boyd’s archive features photographs from her early career, from Vogue to Vanity Fair, and marks fashion’s major shift from black and white postwar demure to wide-eyed, mini-skirted psychedelia, with Boyd’s place at the heart of 60s culture. ‘It was like a zeitgeist, we were no longer twin sets and pearls; we were forging ahead, going through the tunnel knowing there’s something at the other end’

Early professional studio session by Nancy Sandys Walker, 1964

‘Nancy Sandys Walker had been Norman Parkinson’s studio assistant – I think she worked for Vanity Fair around this time’

Pattie Boyd filming a commercial for Dop Pearlized Shampoo by L’Oreal, UK, 1966

This rich and evocative visual memoir brings to life the music, fashion and pop culture scene through the eyes of one of the most iconic fashion models and famous muses of the 20th century – who was at the epicentre of 60s London. Here she exits a car wash in a Jaguar E-type roadster (Jaguar XKE) with the numberplate Dop 4, next to the slogan ‘Dop, for every kind of hair’

Quorum mini dress, 1966

Boyd details her extraordinary modelling career and life in London as the city experienced a cultural revolution: ‘I knew there was something in the air ... designers like Mary Quant and Ossie Clark came along. Photographers and filmmakers were splashing ahead, artists like David Hockney were doing great things. We inspired them and they inspired us, it was a coming together of very creative people’

Pattie at Friar Park by George Harrison, 1972

‘This photo was taken with my camera by George Harrison at Friar Park in the snowy winter of 1972. My dark wig enhanced my blue eyes!’

Boyd photographing her sister Paula at Friar Park, 1971

‘Here I am taking a close-up photo of my little sister Paula sitting on the edge of the pond at Friar Park’ [ • This heading was amended on 3 November 2022; the image features Boyd’s sister Paula, not her sister Jenny as an earlier version said.]

Pattie in studio darkroom by John Swannell, 2018

‘I liked the idea of being independent and working, but not all the time. I wasn’t pinned down to anything nine to five, I thought that would be an incredibly boring thing to do. I was very willing to work and my appointments book was always quite full’

Pattie Boyd at home by Chris Floyd, 2022

This recent portrait was taken by Floyd especially for the book My Life in Pictures