Arny Freytag (born April 12, 1950) is an American
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in oth ...
who specializes in glamour photography. He began working for ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
'' magazine in 1976
and at one time was one of only two photographers who produced the ''Playboy'' centerfold photographs.
Freytag grew up in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, attending Sutherland grammar school and
Luther South High School. He graduated from the
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum an ...
in 1970, and from Brooks Institute of Photography (
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
) in 1974. After an initial period as an apprentice at Playboy, he joined
Mario Casilli
Mario Anthony Casilli (January 22, 1931 – April 25, 2002) was an American photographer. Among other photos, he worked for Playboy magazine between 1957 and 1996 and his first photoshoot there was of Jacquelyn Prescott, as Playmate of the Month ...
,
Richard Fegley
Leon Richard Fegley (November 29, 1936 – September 15, 2001) was a professional photographer who worked for ''Playboy'' magazine for 30 years.
Fegley started taking photos during a stint in the United States Air Force and eventually attended th ...
and
Ken Marcus
Ken Marcus (born October 2, 1946) is an American Photographer, best known for his glamour photography with ''Penthouse'' and ''Playboy'' magazines. For over 40 years he has produced hundreds of centerfolds, editorials, album covers, and advert ...
as the principal photographers at Playboy's California studio.
During his studies at Brooks, Freytag became proficient with the 4”x5” view camera, a skill that served him well shooting the monthly multi-page (gatefold) Playboy centerfold. Attempting to produce the very highest quality possible for the centerfold image, Playboy used the very large 8"x10” view camera. Due to the amount of strobe (electronic flash) light needed to expose that large a sheet of film, Freytag, at first of necessity and later by choice, specialized in the use of elaborate lighting setups, often using dozens of flash heads.
Later, after ''Playboy'' abandoned film and moved to digital cameras, Freytag continued to create images using up to fifty flash heads, each light meticulously placed and targeted to illuminate a small area of the photo. Freytag likens his technique to that of a painter, using each light as his brush strokes, selectively illuminating each area as he incrementally builds the final image.
Freytag's last centerfold shoot was of Playmate
Amanda Streich
Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, “she who must (or is fit to) be loved”. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much ...
, Miss December 2012.
Personal life
Freytag lives in
Woodland Hills, California
Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...
.
References
External links
Arny Freytag Studios*
Arny Freytag - A Playboy Centerfold MasterThe Centerfold
Living people
Playboy photographers
1950 births
{{US-photographer-stub