Robert Freeman

Beatles lensman BORN 1936

In 1963, Londonborn photographer Robert Freeman had already made his name working for The Sunday Times. That year he contacted The Beatles with a view to collaborate: the group responded enthusiastically to his portraits of John Coltrane, Elvin Jones and other jazz musicians, and over the next three years Freeman would take the increasingly sophisticated cover images for five albums and several EPs. Freeman worked fast and respected the moment: the sleeve of 1963’s Meet The Beatles was taken in an hour in a Bournemouth hotel corridor using natural light, for example, while the “stretched” image on the cover of 1965’s Rubber Soul was arrived at accidentally when a projection screen tilted backwards. Freeman also designed Lennon’s books In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works. He later worked in film and advertising. Paul McCartney paid tribute to him as, “a great professional… and a true original thinker.”