Renowned Photographer Herlinde Koelbl Is the 14th Member of the Leica Hall of Fame

Leica is honoring renowned German photographer Herlinde Koelbl with the Leica Hall of Fame Award for her lifetime of photographic achievements. One of Koelbl’s photos has also been named the Leica Picture of the Year 2024, and the limited-edition print will be available exclusively at Leica Galleries.

“Koelbl is a precise observer, an experienced author, a versatile artist and sensitive chronicler of her times: over the past five decades, German photographer Herlinde Koelbl has created an unequaled, multi-layered body of work,” Leica Camera AG explains.

Born on Halloween in 1931 in Lindau, Germany, Koelbl found photography in the mid-1970s after initially studying fashion. She quickly began working on assignments for magazines and long-term personal projects, often accompanied by interviews. Koelbl’s 35mm photography is typically shot on Leica cameras, while her early medium format work was done using Hasselblad cameras.

Koelbl’s work is primarily published through long-term projects and books, including the “Fascination of Science” series PetaPixel chatted with Koelbl about last year. Koelbl’s first photo book, Das Deutsche Woohnzimmer, which translates to “The German Living Room,” was published in 1980 as a sociological study. In that debut book, Koelbl crafted her trademark style, combining excellent documentary photographs and portraits with personal statements from her subjects.

This approach was utilized especially powerfully in 1989’s Jewish Portraits project, for which Koelbl spent years capturing black-and-white portraits and recording long-form interviews with subjects and contemporary witnesses. This acclaimed book provided an emotional examination of German history through photography and text.

Koelbl achieved wider attention for her project, Traces of Power — The Transformation of People Through Governance. In 1991, Koelbl began a deep dive into German politics for eight years. She followed former German chancellor Angela Merkel as part of this project up until 2021.

In total, Koelbl has published more than 20 photography books and received many illustrious awards, including the Medal of Excellence in 1987, the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize of the DGPh in 2001, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2009, and the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2013.

Works from these books and many of Koelbl’s other books and projects are featured in an ongoing exhibition at the Leica Gallery in Wetzlar to celebrate Koelbl’s Leica Hall of Fame Award. The exhibition is on display until January 19, 2025.

In addition to her Leica Hall of Fame Award, a photograph from Koelbl’s Metamorphoses series has been selected as the Leica Picture of the Year. This limited-edition print is available exclusively through Leica Galleries.

Metamorphoses is Koelbl’s most recent series and the first that includes no people — the series is dedicated to nature.

“In the long line of my projects, this is the first time that there are no people to be seen. Yet the main theme that characterizes my work has remained: change, transience,” the photographer says.

The series, about a decade in the making, shows “A kind of visual archaeology that overlaps or even collides with the images or ideas we think we know. The present and the past flow into each other. And in reappearance lies the future,” per Koelbl.

Only 87 prints of the untitled photo from Metamorphoses are available at Leica Galleries. The print is made on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper and printed by WhiteWall. It comes with a certificate of authenticity, edition number, and decorative folder. It goes on sale in December.

Herlinde Koelbl is one of Germany’s most acclaimed and influential photographers. She is the 14th photographer inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame, following the most recent induction of the late Elliott Erwitt last year. More of Koelbl’s work is available on her website.

Image credits: All images © Herlinde Koelbl/Leica Hall of Fame Award 2024, Leica Gallery Wetzlar 2024, unless otherwise noted