'IN THE GARDEN AT CHISLEHURST' LAURIE FREITAG
Laurie Freitag is a digital photographer whose work deals with themes of family, childhood, memory
& home.
She says, "As nanny & documenter of the child's day, I am a witness to many of the moments that get overlooked. I like living in a bubble. I'm in their world, which is one of shadows and leaves, lines in the cement, and sounds of cars.
It's a nice hide-out, innocent. I've always done my best work when I've been able to become like a piece of furniture in a room, giving me access to capture the details of the essence of my subject without being obtrusive. Most of my subjects are just doing ordinary things. It's in the ordinary where I see the exceptional.
A New York native, I've spent the last few decades calling Los Angeles home. I grew up looking at Life and Look magazines, influenced by documentary-style photography. The photograph of John-john under JFK'S desk taken by Stanley Tretick has always been a favorite.
My father would work late in the city, and where my father's plate would be at the dinner table, we put a small black & white T.V.
Not much talking going on at the dinner table. Children should be seen and not heard was the norm. So I became the observer in a two-family house that housed six children.
I may not have been able to have a voice, but no one could stop me from watching... so my eyes became a camera.
When asked what I wanted for my birthday or holidays, I always asked for one thing. A camera and ten rolls of film.
I never got it.
I finally bought myself a camera when I left home at 18 years old.
An artist that I recently met commented that my eye was so practiced by the time I started shooting because "looking" was my way of communication.
I have been told that I make some people uncomfortable with my gaze. I believe I learned that from my mother, who, after waiting for me to be born after five years, never took her eyes off of me! Children do learn by imitation, and that gaze became part of my behavior. That gaze got me into trouble in grade school as I stared curiously at the tough kids - taking in all their differences. This "staring" problem had repercussions, and I remember my mother having to go to school on my behalf on four separate occasions.
I was one of the first female engineers to work in the maledominated broadcast market in Los Angeles in the late '70s. That was interesting as mostly all of my co-workers literally had real war stories to tell! So I moved around in that world, ending up in T.V. news production for twenty years, where I won the L.A. Press Association award for continuity. Then, in the late '80s, I was a contributor to the L.A. Reader and shot over twentyfive stories.
Recent awards for my work include:
■ 2021, PX3 Prix de la Photographie (Gold/second Place)
■ 2021, Top 20 Finalist, Summer, Focus Photo LA
■ 2021, 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Honorable Mention.