Meet Laurie Freitag of Laurie Freitag Photography in Hollywood and Silverlake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Freitag.

Laurie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a photographer, my roots are in street photography. I document children and babies in their natural surroundings. But during a good part of February, I felt drawn to shoot in the night, which for me personally was a big no-no.

The series I created, ‘Don’t go out into the Night: It’s not Safe.’ was inspired by breaking one of the rules my mother had ingrained in my head. Although I’m all grown up plus some, I would never spend much time alone in the night. Well, what woman would?

But I became aware of a stillness, a beckoning calling me to take a look. So, I did. I was drawn to the trees and the natural environment and what I called ‘Nightlife’ juxtaposed against houses. Each night, I would be drawn to shadows, cactus, steps, limbs, branches reaching. I didn’t know why I was drawn to these things but a pattern started to emerge as I looked deeper within myself.

In my personal life, I had broken away from my mother. I had finally stood up for myself, drawn a line in the sand and told her that I didn’t want to talk to her. This was very hard to do and I believe I felt conflicted with this decision. So conflicted perhaps that the universe or whatever is out there came to my support. It was time to take a look at deeper issues of how a lack of maternal support affected me and how home was never a safe place for me to flourish.

And just days ago, my mother suddenly passed from an undiagnosed UTI that turned to sepsis. The series makes sense now. I was being led and prepared for what was to come.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think a big challenge for artists is to have their work seen and sold. It’s not always so easy to get your work before the right eyes.

Personally, I’m not so attached to making a name for myself as to just let the workflow through me. The work is an expression and extension of my journey and if others can relate to it, then that is wonderful.

I have created 2 venues to help promote other photographers that I get great satisfaction from. L.A. Photo Curator started in late 2015 with monthly online photography competitions with different themes chosen by different people involved in photography. I started N.Y. Photo Curator in Jan. 2018. Twenty percent of all artist entry fees go to charity. A favorite feature of the competitions is that all entries are shown on their own page with the photographer’s artist statement, contact info, bio and parts of their CV which means instant monthly online exposure for the artist.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Laurie Freitag Photography – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
As a company I’m most proud of 2 things…that I’m allowed to document children in their most natural habitat and also that I can give exposure to photographers from all over the world in my competitions.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lauriefreitag.com

Image Credit:
Laurie Freitag

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