Leica Hall of Fame Award

A tribute to outstanding photographers
Portrait of Picture of the Year winner Herlinde Koelbl.
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Hall of Fame Award Winners

The Leica Hall of Fame Award stands in a tradition of earlier awards initiated by Leica Camera AG to honour outstanding photographers. The prize is awarded to photographers who have rendered outstanding services to the Leica brand and to the genre of photography. The prize shall be awarded sporadically without competition and without the decision of a jury.

Photographers honored with the Leica Hall of Fame Award

Portrait of Herlinde Koelbl.

Herlinde Koelbl

Herlinde Koelbl was born on 31st October 1939 in Lindau. After first studying fashion, it was in the mid seventies that she discovered photography as her creative medium of expression. She subsequently began to work on assignments for magazines, as well as creating an enormously productive series of publications of her own long-term photographic projects, which were often accompanied by interviews. Some of the projects also resulted in documentary films. Her sensitive and often philosophical interviews appeared regularly in the ZEITmagazin. Her 35mm-range work was primarily carried out with Leica cameras, and her medium format with a Hasselblad. Koelbl has published more than 20 photo books and has received numerous awards, including the Medal of Excellence (1987), the Dr Erich Salomon Prize of the DGPh (2001), the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2009) and the Bavarian Order of Merit (2013). She lives and works in Neuried near Munich.

Elliott Erwitt

“I don't take pictures of dogs. To me, dogs are people.”

Elliott Erwitt is considered one of the world's best-known photographers (1928 - 2023). His works, which are mostly in black and white feature not only prominent personalities but also memorable moments in contemporary history, are considered modern masterpieces of photography. As a self-confessed dog fan, the four-legged friends also play a special role in his photographic work. The subtle humor in many of his images is Elliott Erwitt's trademark. He was born in Paris on July 26, 1928, the son of Russian immigrants, and spent his childhood in Milan. In 1939 the family emigrated, via France, to the USA. The passionate cosmopolitan returned again and again to the metropolis on the Seine, the scene of some of his first photographic excursions in the 1940s and the founding headquarters of the Magnum - always with his Leica.

Ralph Gibson

“I never wanted to imitate reality. Photography should abstract, go beyond reality, put it in a different context.”

His clear, precise visual language is unique. Abstract, surreal-metaphysical aspects are typical. In over sixty years, a fascinating, dense body of work consisting of individual motifs, series and illustrated books has been created using a wide variety of Leica cameras. Influenced by Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank, whom he assisted in the 1960s, Gibson (born 1939) developed a personal aesthetic based on strong contrasts, graphic precision and visual suggestion through his encounters with European film, literature and music. He has published his work in numerous photo books. In addition to working as a photographer, Gibson also became an important promoter of artistic photography as a publisher.

Walter Vogel

“A photo needs to have something magical about it. It is only then that the special atmosphere of the picture invites the viewer to linger.”

The subjects in his repertoire are very diverse and his style is unmistakable. Whether as a chronicler of Germany’s Ruhr district, a globe-trotting travel photographer, a delighted circus-goer, a night-owl travesty photographer, or a lover of espresso coffee – it is easy to recognise Walter Vogel as the chronicler of an era; a classic photo reporter whose experienced eyes and perfect precision produced unforgettable picture motifs. With an imagery defined by authenticity, precision, and an at times sublime sense of humour, Vogel (born 1932) is one of the greatest German Leica photographers of the analogue era.

Jürgen Schadeberg

“Photography is history. There are certain moments that we don’t see unless we photograph them.”

Whether it was the picture of Miriam Makeba singing, or the image of Nelson Mandela looking out through the bars of his former prison cell, the photographer (1931–2020) was responsible for producing some iconic pictures that remain legendary to this day. As a photojournalist and representative of “life photography,” he was a humanist in the best sense of the word. He always encountered the people he portrayed with sympathy and respect, regardless of their nationality or skin colour. Born in Berlin, the photographer was drawn to South Africa in 1950. Not least through his work for Drum magazine, he became the chronicler of an era until he had to leave South Africa in 1964. He did not return until 1985 and photographed his second chapter of South Africa until 2007.

Bruce Davidson

“I don’t consider myself a documentary photographer – documentary photographer suggests you just stand back, that you’re not in the picture, you’re just recording. I am in the picture but I am not the picture.”

He is one of America’s most important photographers – many of his pictures have written history. His eye is incorruptible: critical, sensitive, empathetic and always respectful of the people he portrays. With passionate dedication, Davidson (born 1933), who now lives in New York, got involved with the subjects and the protagonists of his stories, often accompanying them over long periods of time. Characterised by his personal views, the photographer’s images consequently always als