Robert Freeman (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Robert Freeman is a photographer and designer, most famous for his album cover photos for The Beatles
and his design work on the end credit sequences of their first two films and the related film posters and advertising materials.
He was the Beatles' most favoured photographer during the years 1963 to 1966 and shot arguably the most iconic images of them. He photographed and designed the covers for five consecutive album covers of the Beatles-sanctioned UK album releases on the Parlophone label. Most of those images were also adapted by Capitol Records for the US releases they compiled from the Beatles' UK recordings.
Freeman first came to prominence as a photo journalist working for the British newspaper The Sunday Times - for which he photographed a variety of subjects including Nikita Khrushchev
in the Kremlin
. He had also become noted for his black-and-white photographs of several jazz musicians including John Coltrane
. It was these photographs that impressed the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein
and the Beatles themselves and led to his first commission in August 1963 to photograph the group. He was selected to photograph the entirety of the first-ever Pirelli Calendar
- shot in 1963 for the year 1964.
to photograph Khrushchev
in the Kremlin, and earlier that year had shot the first Pirelli calendar. This was a big hit and, in later years, a media event. But my favourite assignment during that period was photographing John Coltrane and other jazz musicians at a festival in London. It was photographs of these musicians that I later showed to the Beatles... I contacted their press agent in London. He referred me to Brian Epstein, their manager, who asked me to send samples of my work to Llandudno, in Wales, where the Beatles were playing at the time. I put together a portfolio of large black-and-white prints, most of which were portraits of jazz musicians - Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Elvin Jones, Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. The Beatles' response was positive - they liked
the photographs and, as a result, Brian arranged for me to meet them in Bournemouth a week later where they were booked to play several evenings at the local Gaumont cinema."
was shot by Freeman on 22 August 1963 in the Palace Court Hotel, Bournemouth
, England.
Freeman recalls:
Paul McCartney
's recollection of the session:
The original idea was to paint the picture from edge to edge, with no bleeding or title, but the studio vetoed it, on the grounds that the Beatles were not yet famous enough to carry a nameless cover. (The first album to carry an edge-to-edge cover was the Rolling Stones' self-titled debut
, released a few months later.) The studio also tried to pull the cover because the Beatles were not smiling, and it was only after George Martin intervened that they won the day. Freeman was paid £75 for his work (three times the normal fee).
shows the Beatles in an autumnal setting photographed in Hyde Park
, London
. McCartney recalled: "The album cover was rather nice: Robert Freeman's photos. It was easy. We did a session lasting a couple of hours and had some reasonable pictures to use.... The photographer would always be able to say to us, 'Just show up,' because we all wore the same kind of gear all the time. Black stuff; white shirts and big black scarves."
The album also features a gatefold cover, the photo inside the gatefold cover showed the Beatles standing in front of a montage of photos.
album cover features the group spelling out a word in semaphore
; the British Parlophone
release featured the word 'NUJV', whilst the slightly re-arranged US release on Capitol Records
appeared to feature the word 'NVUJ'. However, it may be argued that some of the members of the band were not only re-arranged but reversed as well.
The following semaphore characters show the correct spelling of "HELP" as seen if facing the flagman:
However, the truth is the photo does not spell any message at all in semaphore. Robert Freeman confirms this: "I had the idea of semaphore spelling out the letters HELP. But when we came to do the shot the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn't look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms."
cover appears stretched. McCartney relates the story behind this in Volume 5 of the documentary film Anthology. Photographer Bob Freeman had taken some pictures of the Beatles at Lennon's house. Freeman showed the photos to the Beatles by projecting them onto an album-sized piece of cardboard to simulate how they would appear on an album cover. The unusual Rubber Soul album cover came to be when the slide card fell slightly backwards, elongating the projected image of the photograph and stretching it. Excited by the effect, they shouted, "Ah! Can we have that? Can you do it like that?" Freeman said he could.
The lettering was designed by Charles Front.
According to a claim in Philip Norman's 2008 biography of Lennon, between 1963 and 1965, Freeman's then wife, Sonny Drane
(a model and 1964 Pirelli calendar-girl), had a year-long clandestine affair with John Lennon
. Norman further claimed that she was the inspiration for Lennon's song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
. No evidence for this claim has been presented other than Drane's own claim to Norman - made for the first time 43 years after the alleged fact. Her claim to have inspired the song was not based on any conversation Drane had with Lennon subsequent to the song's composition - just her supposition. Freeman has made no public comment on his ex-wife's belated claim.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and his design work on the end credit sequences of their first two films and the related film posters and advertising materials.
He was the Beatles' most favoured photographer during the years 1963 to 1966 and shot arguably the most iconic images of them. He photographed and designed the covers for five consecutive album covers of the Beatles-sanctioned UK album releases on the Parlophone label. Most of those images were also adapted by Capitol Records for the US releases they compiled from the Beatles' UK recordings.
Freeman first came to prominence as a photo journalist working for the British newspaper The Sunday Times - for which he photographed a variety of subjects including Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
. He had also become noted for his black-and-white photographs of several jazz musicians including John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
. It was these photographs that impressed the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
and the Beatles themselves and led to his first commission in August 1963 to photograph the group. He was selected to photograph the entirety of the first-ever Pirelli Calendar
Pirelli Calendar
The Pirelli Calendar is a trade calendar published by the Pirelli company's UK subsidiary. It has become an annual publication that dates back to 1964....
- shot in 1963 for the year 1964.
Early career
Robert Freeman graduated from Cambridge in 1959. "...In the summer of '63. I'd been a photographer for two years but had already established a reputation through my work for the Sunday Times and other magazines. I'd recently been on assignment in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to photograph Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in the Kremlin, and earlier that year had shot the first Pirelli calendar. This was a big hit and, in later years, a media event. But my favourite assignment during that period was photographing John Coltrane and other jazz musicians at a festival in London. It was photographs of these musicians that I later showed to the Beatles... I contacted their press agent in London. He referred me to Brian Epstein, their manager, who asked me to send samples of my work to Llandudno, in Wales, where the Beatles were playing at the time. I put together a portfolio of large black-and-white prints, most of which were portraits of jazz musicians - Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Elvin Jones, Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. The Beatles' response was positive - they liked
the photographs and, as a result, Brian arranged for me to meet them in Bournemouth a week later where they were booked to play several evenings at the local Gaumont cinema."
With the Beatles cover
The cover for With the BeatlesWith the Beatles
With The Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock group The Beatles. It was released on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, and was recorded four months after the band's debut Please Please Me...
was shot by Freeman on 22 August 1963 in the Palace Court Hotel, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, England.
Freeman recalls:
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's recollection of the session:
The original idea was to paint the picture from edge to edge, with no bleeding or title, but the studio vetoed it, on the grounds that the Beatles were not yet famous enough to carry a nameless cover. (The first album to carry an edge-to-edge cover was the Rolling Stones' self-titled debut
The Rolling Stones (album)
-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica, percussion*Keith Richards – guitar, backing vocals*Brian Jones – guitar, harmonica, percussion, backing vocals*Charlie Watts – drums, percussion...
, released a few months later.) The studio also tried to pull the cover because the Beatles were not smiling, and it was only after George Martin intervened that they won the day. Freeman was paid £75 for his work (three times the normal fee).
Beatles for Sale cover
The album cover for Beatles for SaleBeatles for Sale
Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released in late 1964 and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of Lennon and McCartney as lyricists, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in...
shows the Beatles in an autumnal setting photographed in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. McCartney recalled: "The album cover was rather nice: Robert Freeman's photos. It was easy. We did a session lasting a couple of hours and had some reasonable pictures to use.... The photographer would always be able to say to us, 'Just show up,' because we all wore the same kind of gear all the time. Black stuff; white shirts and big black scarves."
The album also features a gatefold cover, the photo inside the gatefold cover showed the Beatles standing in front of a montage of photos.
Help! cover
The HelpHelp! (album)
Help! is the title of the fifth British and ninth American album by The Beatles, and the soundtrack from their film of the same name. Produced by George Martin for EMI's Parlophone Records, it contains fourteen songs in its original British form, of which seven appeared in the film...
album cover features the group spelling out a word in semaphore
Flag semaphore
Semaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...
; the British Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
release featured the word 'NUJV', whilst the slightly re-arranged US release on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
appeared to feature the word 'NVUJ'. However, it may be argued that some of the members of the band were not only re-arranged but reversed as well.
The following semaphore characters show the correct spelling of "HELP" as seen if facing the flagman:
 H |
 E |
 L |
 P |
However, the truth is the photo does not spell any message at all in semaphore. Robert Freeman confirms this: "I had the idea of semaphore spelling out the letters HELP. But when we came to do the shot the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn't look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms."
Rubber Soul cover
The photo of the Beatles on the Rubber SoulRubber Soul
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market...
cover appears stretched. McCartney relates the story behind this in Volume 5 of the documentary film Anthology. Photographer Bob Freeman had taken some pictures of the Beatles at Lennon's house. Freeman showed the photos to the Beatles by projecting them onto an album-sized piece of cardboard to simulate how they would appear on an album cover. The unusual Rubber Soul album cover came to be when the slide card fell slightly backwards, elongating the projected image of the photograph and stretching it. Excited by the effect, they shouted, "Ah! Can we have that? Can you do it like that?" Freeman said he could.
The lettering was designed by Charles Front.
Personal life
In the 1960s, Freeman was married to a German-born model - known at the time as Sonny Freeman, with whom he had two children. He was later married to author Tiddy Rowan with whom he had a daughter,According to a claim in Philip Norman's 2008 biography of Lennon, between 1963 and 1965, Freeman's then wife, Sonny Drane
Sonny Drane
Sonny Drane , is a German-born woman who was briefly popular as a model in Britain in the 1960s. She was propelled to prominence when her first husband, noted British photographer Robert Freeman, included images of her in the first-ever Pirelli Calendar for which he was the sole photographer...
(a model and 1964 Pirelli calendar-girl), had a year-long clandestine affair with John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. Norman further claimed that she was the inspiration for Lennon's song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
"Norwegian Wood " is a song by The Beatles, first released on the 1965 album Rubber Soul....
. No evidence for this claim has been presented other than Drane's own claim to Norman - made for the first time 43 years after the alleged fact. Her claim to have inspired the song was not based on any conversation Drane had with Lennon subsequent to the song's composition - just her supposition. Freeman has made no public comment on his ex-wife's belated claim.
Publications
- Freeman, Robert, The Beatles: A Private View Barnes & Noble, NY, ISBN 1-59226-176-0