Jurgen Schadeberg’s London

 

We couldn’t take our eyes off this photograph taken by Jurgen Schadeberg of his friend the acrobat Hans Prignitz balancing over the city of Hamburg.
So much so that we had to dig deeper and do a feature on him.

Hans Prignitz’s handstand on the St. Michaelis Church, Hamburg, 1948

 

Schadeberg was born in Berlin in 1931 but moved to South Africa to start afresh and leave the war behind him in 1950. But in his own words, this move was like out of the frying pan and into the fire given the tetchy situation in South Africa when he arrived.

After living there for close to fourteen years and photographing everything from politics (his series of images on Nelson Mandela and ANC are outstanding) to jazz, he returned to Europe in 1964 where he continued to work and teach.

Schadeberg spent quite a bit of time in Britain and here are some of the images he took of our beloved London. The grittiness of the city might not be the same as it was in the 60’s and the 70’s, but looks like we haven’t lost our impish charm yet.

A washing line in Maida Vale, London, 1978

 

Waitress Break, London City Hall, 1979

 

A young audience at a concert in Regent’s Park, London, 1976

 

Thames Walk

 

A boy jumps down the street under the Westway in Edgware Road, London, 1972

 

Lovers in a London Pub, 1982

 

Three boys

 

Young smokers visit a flea market in the East End of London, 1978

 

Hackney Corner, 1979

 

London Playground, 1968

 

A miscellaneous stall in Hackney Market, London, 1979

 

A shoemaker at work in his Soho shop, 1970

 

A Punch and Judy man delights a group of children in London, 1977

 

Two boys build a bonfire on a disused section of a railway line at London Docks, 1974

 

http://jurgenschadeberg.com/