Candace Freeland

1952 - 2021

Candace Freeland
October 28, 1952 - July 24, 2021
Black Mountain, North Carolina - "Some people are so much sunlight to the square inch, I am still bathing in the cheer (she) radiated."
—Walt Whitman
Candace Rae Freeland, by divine appointment, was born into the world and to me at Charlotte's Presbyterian Hospital on October 28, 1952.
I held her close, marveling—not knowing, of course, how beautiful, gracious, vibrant, compassionate and fun she would be. Throughout her life, she traveled the world being these many uplifting things to very many people.
This wonderful human being—precious daughter and beloved friend to legions—laid down the burden of pancreatic cancer and peacefully crossed the River Jordan on July 24, 2021.
Candace loved the outdoors, and especially loved trees. She was joyfully active in the Swannanoa Valley Treasured Tree Alliance, which identifies and protects trees of outstanding age and beauty. www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org
She loved children, and gave generously to organizations with like intentions. Among her favorites were Operation Smile, www.operationsmile.org, and Doctors Without Borders, www.donation@newyork.msf.org.
But she called music her "first love." She wrote, played, and performed it, and you can hear it. www.candacefreeland.bandcamp.com Sales proceeds are redirected to Musicians Without Borders, whose mission is to use music for peace-building and social change.
Then there was photography.
"When I was eight years old," she said in a recent interview, "my parents took me to a showing of Ingmar Bergman's iconic masterwork, The Seventh Seal. Every black and white frame of that film was a study in light, shadow, and form, impeccably rendered in imagery that impacted my young mind.
"At the age of 16, I was handed a clunky Hanimex Praktika camera and exposed my first roll of Tri-x-film. My passion for the medium grew as I discovered the work of the photojournalism masters: W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Dorothea Lange. They were concerned photographers, documenting the human condition with an eye attuned to those who suffer the snares of war and poverty."
Inspired by their legacies, Candace packed up her camera gear and started documenting.
Through peace marches across the California Bay Area, work for the Associated Press in Boston, five award-winning years with the Charlotte Observer, and two years during the Sandinista-contra conflict in Nicaragua, she followed her passion for social justice.
Her work won numerous awards and was published by
U. S. News and World Report, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald and many leading journals and newspapers.
The highlight of her life as a photographer was a letter from W. Eugene Smith, often described as the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay.
"Your photographs are quite remarkable," he said. "I truly believe you can be a magnificent and honest photographic (and otherwise) contributor to humanity." W. Eugene Smith, 1918-1978
Among her many exhibitions:
Forced Out—The Agony of the Refugee in Our Time, a traveling group show sponsored by Amnesty International, 1989-90.
Hope for a Better Future, a one-woman show sponsored by UNICEF, Managua, Nicaragua, 1989.
The Concerned Photographer, a group show sponsored by the International Center of Photography, 1970.
"After returning from Central America," she said, "I moved in 2000 to the magical islands of Hawaii. For sixteen years, I documented over 1,000 weddings, mostly barefoot on a beach.
"Now I'm back to my roots, to be closer to family. And it is here, in the small town of Black Mountain, surrounded by countless acres of accessible forests, hiking trails and waterfalls, that I'm making my home and offering, once again, my particular way of seeing as a photographer."
An exhibition of Candace's photography during her years in the jungles of Nicaragua may be seen at the Arts Center, Hudson, North Carolina, beginning October 4. Free admission.
www.thehubstation.com
It was an honor to love and cherish my gifted daughter. And I know that her beloved dad, Robert Bryan Freeland (1932¬–1995) would agree.
Candace is survived by her mom, Jan Karon, loving aunts, uncles, cousins, and a legion of devoted friends, three of whom cared for her tenderly during the dying process. We also thank her death doula, Aditi Sethi, her Hospice doctor and nurses, and all those who offered gifts of flowers, food, and compassion.
Candace's ashes will rest in the embrace of a 150-year-old poplar near a favorite mountain stream, and in the memorial gardens of St. James Episcopal Church in Black Mountain, NC. She would like us to add that her ashes have been made eco-friendly.