Photographs tell us a story, photographs record that unrepeatable one moment in time. Sometimes from these split second captures, the world around us can seem a little incomplete, sometimes the story needs a little editing to give us a better result. This months 'Take5' selection of images come from an incredible image maker, where fine art and photography hold hands comfortably, and in doing so create a whole new picture.
When we started this feature, we had a vision to feature image makers of all levels, ages, backgrounds and in doing so feature a wide variety of content. Things you could say have escalated pretty quickly, the quality has been fantastic and it continues to grow month on month, with mind blowing visual splendour.
This month we have the honour to feature a photographer, artist and image manipulator, recognised by global institutions such Getty Images and Saatchi Gallery. Renowned for his vast photographic repertoire, from portraiture to still life, architectural and people. It gives us the greatest of pleasures to introduce to you the work of Ed Freeman, a man whose photographic creativity has blown our minds for sometime. From one email, Ed has been so helpful, polite and above all supportive. From his selection of five images, two of them are receiving their first exposure to the public. In Ed's words "This would be their debut showing", which as you can imagine is an exceptional honour for the project. We are sure you will enjoy them as much as us, so be sure to make yourself familiar with his other works via his website and social media platforms.
In his own words…
Ed Freeman grew up in Boston, the son of college professors and majored in French at Oberlin College in Ohio. After college, he worked as a performer and studio musician and orchestrator on dozens of pop and jazz records. Highlights of his music career include working as a road manager on the last Beatles tour, arranging Carly Simon's debut album and producing Don McLean's iconic "American Pie."
Starting thirty years ago, Freeman gradually transitioned to his other great love, photography. Since then he has published two books and exhibited widely in galleries and museums, both in the United States and abroad. He has shot advertising pictures for Miller Beer, Sony Music and Warner Bros, won numerous prizes, been featured in dozens of books and has scores of magazine cover pictures to his credit. His fine art images are in private collections worldwide and in the permanent collections of several prominent American museums. More samples of his work can be seen on his website.
Freeman is widely recognized for his expert and innovative use of Photoshop in creating images that run the gamut from believable realism to pure fantasy. His controversial position regarding image manipulation is that what he is producing is not journalism but fine art – pictures that are to be appreciated for their intrinsic esthetic value rather than for their accuracy in depicting an actual event or place in time.
Gas Station – (Above) All my photographs are retouched, but this one is more retouched than most. I’m impressed by how generic gas stations are, and I wanted to make this one look as generic as possible.
Public Storage – There were actually only three rows of storage units in the original picture, but I wanted to emphasize the sameness of them, so…
Chevrolet in Garage – This is about as close to the American dream as you can get – a refurbished, classic American car in a two-car garage, complete with basketball net, surrounded by a white picket fence on a bright, sunny day. Of course, the car, the garage, the basketball net, the picket fence and the sky all come from different pictures – the American dream doesn’t really exist in real life.
Los Angeles Freeway – Yes, the freeways in Los Angeles are a nightmare, but not quite as bad a nightmare as this picture might suggest. It's actually a composite of seven different pictures.
Playground – The playground is real. The city skyline is real. The sky is real. They didn’t happen to all be in the same place at the same time, but I don’t even slow down for reality when I’m out to make a picture…
Thank you so much Ed for supporting us with this submission to Take 5, this means a great deal to the project. If you would like to view more of Eds work and keep up to date with news, be sure to check out his Instagram, Website, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. Also check out this brilliant interview on Qufoto for an in depth discussion on his work and techniques.
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Words: Matt Strutt, Ed Freeman
Images: Ed Freeman
Contributors: Aaron Darveniza
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