Photography
![]() Betty Freeman with Ansel Adams in Carmel CA, July 1976 Photo courtesy Betty Freeman |
![]() Betty Freeman with John Harbison and Arvo Pärt in Berlin, November 15, 1990 Photo by Rosemary Harbison, courtesy Betty Freeman |
FRANK J. OTERI: You have done so many remarkable photos of composers.
BETTY FREEMAN: Outside of grandchildren, I photograph almost exclusively composers because I consider them the most important people in the world, much more important than any politician.
FRANK J. OTERI: (laughs) That’s great. When did you start doing photography?
BETTY FREEMAN: 1972, when I started making the Partch film…
FRANK J. OTERI: …The Dreamer That Remains…
BETTY FREEMAN: Then I studied twice with Ansel Adams at his school. And later with Fred Picker for a week in Vermont, and then, I forget the name, I studied two weeks in Italy with a color photographer, I forgot his name.
FRANK J. OTERI: What was it like working with Ansel Adams?
BETTY FREEMAN: In one session during the two weeks he took the class of 14 into his darkroom, and he asked everybody to bring a negative. So everybody brought in a negative. He choose one from one of the students, of a father, mother and a child sitting on the grass in front of a bush. And for the next 4 hours, he proceeded to print just that one negative, and I learned from watching, what it means to be a great printer and photographer. He went over, and over, always with big paper 16 by 20, dodging and burning and trying this and trying this and different developers. Finally after 4 hours he came up with a print he liked.
FRANK J. OTERI: Wow.
BETTY FREEMAN: That lesson stayed with me for the rest of my life. Attention to detail.
FRANK J. OTERI: Well, I love the photographs of yours that I’ve seen. They have a liveliness to them that’s rare in photos of composers. You bring their inner souls to life,.
BETTY FREEMAN: Oh, thank you. And the more I like their music the better the photograph.
FRANK J. OTERI: I bet that’s true.
BETTY FREEMAN: It is true. It’s strange the camera is not a mechanical tool. Very strange. It’s an extension…
Pingback: Michael Kammen’s concepts of remembrance and commemoration, and war