Saturday will mark the 50th anniversary of the last time the Beatles performed in Detroit. It was Aug. 13, 1966 when the legendary band sang at Olympia Stadium.
That day, a budding photographer talked his way on to the stage to take pictures.
A then 16-year-old ambitious photographer Doug Elbinger remembers is like it was yesterday.
"There were already a multitude of photographers in front of the stage and getting there late, I wasn't going to get my good angle
Doug was a Detroit Free Press paper boy and had been interested in taking pictures.
He became the legendary Freep photographer Tony Spina's assistant.
One of his first shoots happened to be at the last time the Beatles performed in Detroit.
He got there late and didn't have a good spot near the front of the stage.
Doug made his way to the side and found stairs leading to the stage and got permission to go up.
"The lights went off, the Beatles came right in front of me. This was the first time I saw them. So I just right out of gate started taking pictures."
From there, his career took off, photographing many famous faces.
He created a photo book, calling that his resume.
"You put a couple cameras around your neck and you can go anywhere," he said.
He says nothing in his career beats that summer day with some legends.
"I always say after being on stage with the Beatles my career has kind of gone down hill ever since. You can't go up after that."
To check out Doug's photo book, log onto Amazon.com.
