ABOUT THE PHOTOGRPHER

John Free’s photos are a revelation. He tells stories in the way of Walker Evans, full of grit, but full of passion too.

T.C. Boyle.
Author

“As a wordsmith who has used a combination of pictures and words to tell a story, I can tell you emphatically that John Free’s work needs no cutlines, no anectdotal information, no words whatsoever. John’s pictures tell stories in deep detail, capturing a cut to the emotional quick, with vivid feel, finished with a liberal dose of pathos. Few photographers on the face of this earth capture such realism in each and every frame.”

Mike Capps
Former CNN Correspondent

John has been inspiring to photographers of all ages and skill levels for many years through teaching sold-out classes and workshops in street photography and as a popular guest lecturer. Part stand-up and part evangelist, he speaks from the heart to inspire new generations of photographers. He has taught at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, UCLA, USC and Pasadena City College, and the Newport Art Museum. He is also involved with several non-profit organizations teaching inner-city kids the excitement and power they can get from being dedicated photographers.

John was commissioned by the Los Angeles County museum of art to design a street photography program for the Los Angeles school district high school art departments. John presented the ideas and technique to high school art teachers at a daylong seminar at the museum in 2004. It is believed that this is the first time a street photography program has been adopted into the art curriculum of an entire school district. John’s goal in photography education is to show photographers the rich photographic potential that we all have. Helping photographers find their true personal vision and then implement it with a sensible and well thought out study program that will enable the student of photography to teach himself. John has worked with hundreds of photographers over the years and has observed where they have the most trouble in the process of photographing. John has developed different exercises that can help photographers who are having trouble as we all do, in the difficult areas of the process. Operations such as subject comprehension, Framing, focusing, timing and getting in close to the subject with out disturbing the subject with your presence and how to survive doing this anywhere in the world.

John’s work has been featured in numerous publications from U.S. News and World Report toPeterson’s Photographic Magazine to Smithsonian. He was among the international photojournalists selected to take part in the project that resulted in the book 24 Hours in the Life of Los Angeles. John’s work has been featured in a wide range of exhibitions, including the California Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles, Laguna Festival of Art, Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena and the Bagier Gallery in Ojai, California.

John Free has been a professional photographer specializing in journalistic and editorial subjects since attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara over thirty years ago. His photographic essays range from railroad tramps in California to automobile abstracts to London and Paris street life.