Orrin Erastus Freeman was an American professional photographer in China and Japan. Freeman worked in the ambrotype

Ambrotype

right|thumb|Many ambrotypes were made by unknown photographers, such as this American example of a small girl holding a flower, circa 1860. Because of their fragility ambrotypes were held in folding cases much like those used for [[daguerreotype]]s...

 process.

For a short time, Freeman opened a photography studio in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 in 1859 before leaving China for Japan.

Freeman established a studio in Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 in 1860. He is considered to have been the first Western professional photographer to establish a permanent residence in Japan.

He taught the elements of photography to Ukai Gyokusen

Ukai Gyokusen

was a pioneering Japanese photographer. Although he is much less well known than his contemporaries Shimooka Renjō and Ueno Hikoma, he is important for being the first Japanese professional photographer, having established a photographic studio in Edo in 1860 or 1861.Ukai was born in what is now...

 who established the first phtographer studio in Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

(Eishin-dō) in 1861. Gyokusen's camera, equipment and supplies were purchased from Freeman.

His death in 1866 was sudden. He is buried in Yokohama Foreigner's Cemetery (Gaijin Bochi).