Herbert List on Street Photography

Herbert List was a classically-educated photographer from Hamburg, Germany who traveled widely in the West photographing subjects as broad as dreamy Mediterranean landscapes, Italian streetscapes and male nudes. After attending an exhibition of his photos at the Capitoline Museums this morning, I was impressed by his mastery of lighting, often photographing his subjects with ambient lighting while carefully reading the shadows and framing that make his black-and-white captures both dreamy and intriguing. The view of the sea that I start this post with is a great example, and opener.



What was more interesting, however, was List's street photography. Switching from Rolliflex to a Leica viewfinder camera in the 1960s, List was able to capture the action around him much more quickly, producing active and evocative photos of streetlife. Already a keen traveler and observer, List was able to engage the newfound speed and portability to great effect. Below is an excerpt from the Fahey-Klein Gallery introduction to Herbert List, explaining his adoption of street photography, much of which was done in Italy.

Traveling to Italy in the 1950's, List made several photo essays with a visual approach that was new for him, yet he had always found fascinating. Using a Leica camera, he captured streets scenes of the working-class quarters in Naples. Combining acute observation with intuition, List's work reveals his fervor and enthusiasm to see the miracle in things and their hidden essence. List has said, "Photographs taken spontaneously have often given me more satisfaction than those composed with great care. Apparently the ideas had existed in my subconscious mind for a long time, and I captured their magic almost while passing by." Whether it was children playing in the street, a man selling newspapers, or encounters and flirtations on a piazza, List's images capture a human quality that is charming and full of character. "In alleyways and courtyards, in hovels, cellars, and palaces, he captured the full range of splendor and squalor: children, the aged, artisans and traders, priests, academics, beggars, street singers, lovers, the bereft, gentlemen of elite clubs, and aristocratic ladies." (Max Scheler, Herbert List, The Monograph, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, 2000)

List once said: "to capture the magic of all phenomena, so that the meaning behind will be revealed in the picture. I photograph what the experts and specialists no longer see, the miraculous in things, their hidden essence." He labored hard to 'capture the essence' of his street scenes, and while it is hard for us (me) to read these essences from this photos without a more thorough look, there are several lessons/questions I wanted to pose, if only to help organize my thoughts on street photography and photojournalism in the city.

1. The success of List's photographs was a combination of camera and cameraman. While the new Leica allowed him to move in close on the action, the lighting, choice of scene/angle, proximity to his subjects and development of the photos are skills he honed over a lifetime.
2. This question is still unanswered for me: how does List (or any other street photographer) creep so close to the action without spoiling the moment? Street scenes are best captured at the wide end of the zoom, giving the photo more depth, but that meant List would have been an arm length's away from the playing kids or the frowning grandmother above. How so, especially if you're holding an bulky SLR?
3. What is the essence of a photograph and how many of us carefully think about it? When we photograph, the object is often the scene. Is there a message that we wish to convey with this scene? If so, is there a better angle/time of day/character/scene that would convey this message more evocatively? That seems to involve an understanding of life patterns where we photograph, itself a lesson taught by patience and keen observation.
   

"Naples - A City Through its Inhabitants". More of List's photos available here.