COMMISSART - Key Persons
Freeman Patterson lives at Shamper's Bluff, New Brunswick, near his childhood home. He holds an Honours B.A. in philosophy from Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, New York. His master's thesis was entitled Still Photography as a Medium of Religious Expression. While in New York, Freeman studied photography and visual design privately with Dr. Helen Manzer.
From 1962 to 1965, Freeman was dean of religious studies at Alberta College, Edmonton, and began actively to engage in photography. He moved to Toronto in 1966 to work for one year at Berkeley Studio, the United Church of Canada still photography and film production house. During this time and until the late 1970s, Freeman completed numerous assignments for the Still Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada. He also developed a large roster of professional clients in the editorial and advertising fields. A strong supporter of the amateur photography community, Freeman is a life member and former president of The Toronto Guild for Colour Photography.
Freeman returned to New Brunswick in 1973 primarily to pursue his personal artistic interests and to establish a workshop of photography and visual design. He has taught several classes there every year and, since 1984, in southern Africa as well, where he co-founded the Namaqualand Photographic Workshops. He has given numerous workshops in the United States, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia.
Since 1977, Freeman has written and illustrated four instructional books on photography and visual design, which continue to be reprinted and sell worldwide. He is the sole author and photographer for three large-format books, including a major retrospective work entitled ShadowLight: A Photographer's Life. He has also collaborated on several other major books and written for magazines and for CBC radio. In 1985 Freeman's love for the camera and his passion for teaching were both recognized when he was awarded membership in The Order of Canada, and also, in 2013, the Order of New Brunswick.
Between 1973 and 1989, Freeman was an elected trustee of New Brunswick School District #19 and served for eight years as vice-president and director of Masterfile (a major stock photography agency), two years on the board of Aids Saint John, and six years as a trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. He has donated his property on Shamper's Bluff to the conservancy for an ecological reserve and education area. An avid motorcyclist, he is also a member of the Saint John Harley Owners' Group.