East Coast

"David Freese's approach to photographing the North American landscape culminates in images that are both new and part of a tradition that can be traced back to that of the American Luminous tradition on through Western exploratory photography of William Henry Jackson, Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, and Eadweard Muybridge during the nineteenth century. Those classic, pinpoint-sharp photographs sufficed with light became the source material for artists and lawmakers to preserve and value these landscapes before and after the Civil War. Freese’s vision, like those of his famous predecessors, connotes an artistic sensibility of hope and loss while inspiring awe and woe." ~William Williams, Professor of Fine Arts and Curator of Photography, Haverford College

"From Greenland's glaciers to the industrialized swamps of New Jersey, to the exposed Outer Banks to the Florida Everglades, David Freese reveals a remarkable graphic beauty all along North America’s ecologically vulnerable East Coast. His delectable images at once entrance us and warn us of the fragility of our coasts in the face of global warming and our human desire to live by the sea." ~Stephen Perloff, The Photo Review

"David Freese’s compelling photographs depicting the Atlantic seaboard are both an invaluable historical record of what things look like now as well as a timely wake-up call to how easily coastal communities everywhere along the East Coast will be affected by a rising sea-level and increased extreme-weather conditions." ~Jolene Hanson, Director, The G2 Gallery, Venice, California

"Once again, David Freese and his camera have captured the endless scenic variety of a continent's edge. But these extraordinary images of North America's East Coast do something more subtle as well—they help us see the vulnerability of a landscape poised on the brink of a changing climate. The result is both moving and sobering." ~Michael Brune, Executive Director, The Sierra Club

“David Freese hadn't considered an East Coast version of his book West Coast: Bering to Baja, a dramatic look at the West Coast of North America from the ground and from the air. That changed in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy struck and Freese visited New York and New Jersey. Once he saw the devastation, he decided to begin a project that showcased how the rising waters were affecting cities, islands, national parks, and national wildlife refugees through aerial photography on North America's eastern shore (there are also images taken from the ground)." ~David Rosenberg, Slate

"A unique, thoughtful and thought-provoking photographic compendium, "East Coast: Arctic to Tropic" is certain to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, community, college, and university library." ~Midwest Book Review

“Exploring the jagged eastern coastline of North America with a mixture of aerial and land-based photography, Freese demonstrates the interconnectivity of land and sea, muting cityscapes and cultures to intensify the correlation between water and land… With these elegant reproductions, Freese has expertly documented the ageless and seemingly impermeable elements of the coast, as well as a threatened landscape facing the perils of climate change.” ~Photographer's Forum

"Freese’s sepia-toned images recall 19th-century landscape photography, and the use of the medium as a form of activism goes back to that era... One of Freese’s most haunting landscapes echoes Stoddard’s vision, focusing on the silhouetted skeletons of trees caught in the rising currents on South Carolina’s Edisto Island. While the American government continues to lag in addressing climate change, photography can, hopefully, be a catalyst for action." ~Hyperallergic