Reflections on THAT picture

[waynesville]

This is to me one of the defining images of soul. Look closely, it isn’t just that the girls in in their wonderful afros, but that they are wearing black turtle necks to match against a dark background. Look a bit more; they are looking straight at you, not, as usual, looking slightly off centre. Jean’s mouth is slightly open and her face is slightly at an angle but her eyes are looking right at you. Jean isn't smiling and neither are Mary or Cindy.
This is a statement picture, a serious work of art. It says we’re black and beautiful and intelligent and if you don’t like it then its your problem.
That it should have been the cover of New Ways goes without saying.
I have this as my screen saver on my laptop but I wanted a high definition print to put on the wall. So I went down to Getty in London to discuss. They were quite happy to deal, selling images is a useful sideline for them. Weirdly, although Getty Images acquired the archive of the photographer, Michael Ochs, their database at HQ in LA didn't seem to include a negative, only what was listed as a Motown Publicity Pic.
Without a negative it looked very unpromising. They said they would have a go but the result was disappointing. I was left with the only option being to pay upfront for the pic to be rescanned on the [[better) technology of today, but there could be no guarantees.
Does anyone here know anything about the history of that image??