JAKARTA - Robert Freeman, fotografer lepas The Beatles meninggal di usia 82 tahun. Freeman berkontribusi dalam banyak kiprah The Fab Four. Mari kita tengok karya mendiang Freeman.

Freeman lahir pada tahun 1938. Pada awal kariernya, Freeman bekerja sebagai jurnalis foto untuk The Sunday Times.

Di tahun 60-an, Freeman mulai bekerja untuk The Beatles. Sampul album Help! jadi proyek pertamanya bersama The Beatles.

Tak mungkin memungkiri kerennya sampul foto dalam sampul Help!. Dalam album rilisan 1965 itu, Harrison, Lennon, McCartney, dan Starr berdiri sejajar mengeja huruf "help" dengan isyarat semapur.

Setelah Help!, tangkapan citra Freeman terus digunakan anak asuh Brian Epstein. Dalam album-album selanjutnya, Freeman juga lah yang menciptakan foto-foto ikonik dalam album The Beatles.

Sampul Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, serta berbagai album lain jadi catatan karya Freeman.

Selain The Beatles, Freeman juga bekerja untuk sejumlah nama populer lain, mulai dari Mohammed Ali, John Coltrane, Charlton Heston, hingga Andy Warhol.

Pengumuman meninggalnya Freeman diumumkan dalam akun Twitter resmi The Beatles. Tak disebutkan jelas apa penyebab kematian Freeman.

Yang jelas, seluruh sahabat mendiang turut menyampaikan pesan duka. Tak terkecuali Paul McCartney. Dalam situs resminya, Paul menulis pesan duka:

Dear Robert Freeman has passed away. He was one of our favourite photographers during the Beatles years who came up with some of our most iconic album covers. Besides being a great professional he was imaginative and a true original thinker. People often think that the cover shot for Meet The Beatles of our foreheads in half shadow was a carefully arranged studio shot. In fact it was taken quite quickly by Robert in the corridor of a hotel we were staying in where natural light came from the windows at the end of the corridor. I think it took no more than half an hour to accomplish.

Bob also took the Rubber Soul cover; his normal practice was to use a slide projector and project the photos he’d taken onto a piece of white cardboard which was exactly album sized, thus giving us an accurate idea of how the finished product would look. During his viewing session the card which had been propped up on a small table fell backwards giving the photograph a ‘stretched’ look. Instead of simply putting the card upright again we became excited at the idea of this new version of his photograph. He assured us that it was possible to print it this way and because the album was titled Rubber Soul we felt that the image fitted perfectly.

I will miss this wonderful man but will always cherish the fond memories I have of him.

Thanks Bob.

Love Paul