May Pang, John Lennon's lover during his infamous "Lost Weekend," has brought a rare collection of candid photos to Sharpsburg, showing sides of the legendary musician that have never been available to the public before.  

During a highly creative 18-month period of Lennon's life between 1973 and 1975, Pang took photos of Lennon that are now on display and available for purchase at Atithi Studios on North Canal Street. She was there on Tuesday and will be there Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Exhibition documents Lennon's Lost Weekend

During the post-Beatles Lost Weekend, when Lennon was separated from his wife Yoko Ono and began a relationship with Pang, the couple's personal assistant, he wrote songs like "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and "Rock and Roll," while collaborating with artists like Elton John, David Bowie and Mick Jagger. 

Pang also encouraged Lennon to reunite with Paul McCartney during this time, and she arranged for Julian Lennon to visit his father for the first time in nearly three years. One of her photos of Julian is on the cover of his latest album, "Jude." 

Before the show, Pang stopped by KDKA-TV studios to talk to Talk Pittsburgh's Heather Abraham and Boaz Frankel. She said taking photos of John Lennon started out as something she did for fun, but it came to mean something more. 

"It was only for us, it was our candid shots for at home, and you'd look at it. But as time went on, obviously, John asked me for one of the photographs after we split, and he said, 'we're releasing a 45 of Imagine and I want it for the sleeve,'" Pang said. 

Never-before-seen photos on display

During this time, Pang rented a house in Santa Monica and moved in with Lennon, Ringo Starr, The Who's Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson. 

The exhibition at Atithi Studios includes photos from this period, as well as the only photograph that exists of Lennon signing the contract to dissolve The Beatles. It also has one of the last known photos of John Lennon and Paul McCartney together from March 29, 1974. 

It's the first time both photos have been available to the public. 

Pang remembers Lennon through her eyes

Pang maintains that Yoko Ono gave her the green light to begin a relationship with Lennon, saying they were having problems in their marriage, and Ono wanted to do her own thing too. The photo exhibition shows Lennon as Pang saw him during the Lost Weekend. 

"There were times he was shy. He was very witty but he also had a sharp tongue. You didn't want to be in his way in case that happened. He was also naive," she said, sharing a story about a time Mick Jagger came over and shared a piece of gossip she knew but Lennon didn't.

She said Lennon liked her taking photos of him.  

"John liked my eye on him," Pang said. "So he said, 'whatever,' he goes, 'carry on.' Because he looked at my photos and he goes, 'I like what you're doing, so just go ahead, keep taking them.' So I only took photos of us or Julian or everybody when I thought it was a nice photo that looked different from what you see."  

She said she didn't imagine that she'd share these photos with other people, but now they offer a glimpse into Lennon's life, just a few years before he was killed. 

"You're in the moment. It's not like 'oh I'm doing this or I'm capturing a time where, oh, it's going to be amazing.' It was just every day we were recording, and he goes, 'take a photo of this, I want this.' Or, you know, Julian's in town. And of course, it happens to be iconic times." 

• Music