RIP Beatles Photographer Robert Freeman

Excellent video, Mazzy.

 

Very sad news. He lived for many years in Spain, and I met him at a Beatles fan fest in Valencia. He was selling prints of his original Beatles neagtives. It's a pity I couldn't afford it back then, I would have loved to have one of those framed. He was very nice in any case, telling us stories about the fab days.

He is the author of my favourite Beatles cover photograph:

 

Didn't he invent the Fairchild Limiter?

 

Oh I'm sorry to hear that, I bought that book A Private View. I haven't looked at it in a while but I used to do it all the time.

 

I deleted the comment hours ago realizing it was out of place, before seeing your response.

 

Harrumph !

 

It's like, how much more suede could it be? None. None more suede. That's one cool looking band and I don't think George has ever looked more handsome.

 

I sat for a while with Mr. Freeman on a train from I believe Lisbon to Madrid in the early 90s, we were the only English-speakers in the car. He was traveling around Europe organizing museum exhibitions of his Beatles photos. I subsequently bought the book from a street vendor outside Bloomingdale's in New York after that trip. Oh the Beatles For Sale cover!

 

He also directed one film, The Touchables in 1968.

 

This to me is their visual peak. They never looked better or cooler particularly George with his thick Brian Jones style mane. Rubber Soul and the Butcher are two of the best album covers of all time, both were groundbreaking and surreal at the time. Freeman deserves credit for his pop album art trailblazing.
I know I'm selfish but I want to see every photo that Freeman took of the Fabs released. There are likely hundreds of Freeman negatives just collecting dust that need to be made public.

 

In the early 90s, in anticipation of the Anthology projects and then reissues of the individual albums, Apple rather aggressively sued many of the Beatle photographers under a British law that gave the subject of a photo session the right to all images from the session. Given Apple's superior financial resources, most of the photographers, including Robert Freeman, did not stand a chance and, recognizing that they were outgunned legally, relinquished their rights for what I assume were nominal settlements. Bob Whitaker, who shot the Butcher and '65 covers, held out and somehow retained his copyrights. This is why, in the Anthology book, his work is credited to him, while others' photographs, including Freeman's, are generally credited to Apple, which will control which of the unreleased Freeman images we will see and when. I was disappointed that the 2009 reissues didn't include alternate Freeman shots from the cover sessions. When the smiling With/Meet the image, different For Sale ones, and the uncropped and non-distorted Rubber Soul photo leaked out, we got a taste of what may be in store for us in future box sets. Pretty cool but, in my view, unfortunate that guys like Freeman, who didn't get much in the way of fees for their photos being used on the albums, couldn't directly benefit from their artistry in later years.

 

To me it's both their visual and their musical peak, which would extend throughout 1966.

 

I didn't know about that British law or the cheesy maneuvering by Apple. So if I take a picture of some bloke on the street in London, he owns it? Was Freeman was an independent freelance photographer or was he hired by Epstein to do photoshoots?

 

My understanding of the law and the facts are as I stated. My further understanding is that, in the case of Bob Freeman, Epstein/NEMS/the Beatles/whomever hired him to do each shoot and gave him access to the group accordingly. Mazzy, do I have this right?

 

Robert Freeman + RIP




With Thanks..


"Freeman - 2004"

 

The Beatles ~ "Meet The Beatles!"
Signed Capitol Records LP .. ''Freeman - 2004''

 

That's incredible! I haven't seen it before. This has to be a picture disc when they get round to remixing and re-releasing Revolver.

 

It all depends on the contract agreement you negotiate.

If you are a big name photographer like Richard Avedon or Annie Liebowitz you have more clout and can retain the rights to your work. If you are new and starting out you may not know your rights and frequently relinquish the copyright for a chance to photograph a celebrity. Short sighted but I understand it.

I mostly negotiate with clients direct and ad agencies and usually they license the work for specific uses and a limited period of time. After which the rights revert back to the photographer. The more usage they want the more we can usually charge.

Own your work.

 

New York Times Obit:

Robert Freeman, Photographer of Beatles Albums, Dies at 82

 

Alas, his entire archive of photos has been stolen:

The stolen archive of Robert Freeman | Apollo Magazine

 

So sad