(CBS) She may have been best-known as the wife of a Beatle, but she was also a famously vegetarian campaigner for animal rights, and, though many may not know it, Linda McCartney was an accomplished photographer.

Now, 10 years after her death from breast cancer, Paul McCartney is putting his celebrity power behind a tribute to her work on film, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

"I knew Linda, obviously, (in the) very early days of her photography, so I saw a lot of her work unfold. So I have a personal interest in it obviously, as my family does. It's my wife, it's their mum," McCartney said of his involvement in the upcoming exhibit.

With 28 of the American-born photographer's still pictures going on display, and sale, in London - from images of rock stars to family scenes to a silhouette self-portrait - McCartney says the collection's an illustration of Linda's talent.

Referring to a photo of the band at Abbey Road studios, McCartney reminisced over his late wife's work. "What I like about it, actually, you can see nobody's bothered about the photographer, it's just a moment in time captured.

"And anybody else might have missed that moment and waited till we were looking serious, but she was looking for that kind of thing," McCartney said.

Roth says it's plain to see, given the publicity he's allowed - a newspaper interview and a video-taped, widely released chat with gallery owner James Hyman - that Paul McCartney's driven, as well, by a wish to make a point. "It's great for me just to remind people how great she was," he says.

Conversely, he doesn't directly mention in all the press his disastrous marriage to Heather Mills, or the multi-million dollar divorce that just ended it or Mills' campaign to explain it, except by indirection.

Linda "didn't go on TV and try to ingratiate herself," says McCartney. "Her priorities were private, not public."

British show business commentator Neil Sean says, "It's a rather thinly-veiled attack on, of course, his recent troubles. And she was really a respected photographer. ... The amount of people she did take pictures of -- it is a bit of a 'Who's Who' now. Of course, she did have great connections. But I think his fans, and many fans of her, will like the fact that they're getting a chance to see these rather revealing unpublished pictures."

McCartney says the exhibit's has been in the works for three years, with some photos offering never-before-seen glimpses of private and family moments.

"Privacy didn't matter," recalled McCartney, saying the couple knew they were being constantly watched and photographed, anyway.

Prices, though, may matter. Roth reports that asking prices start at about $9,600 for a single photo, plus tax.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Back To Top