Enrico Natali took pictures on the subway in 1960 while commuting to work as an assistant for fashion photographer Anton Bruehl.
The child of Italian immigrants from a small farming community in upstate New York, Enrico came to big the city after leaving the Coast Guard.
I still didn’t intend to do photography. I thought I was going to be an engineer, but I was trying to put off going back to school.
Enrico used an Ikoflex, a twin-lens-reflex, so he shot from the hip, and most people weren’t sure what he way doing.
One time I stood in front of a woman and shot a whole roll of film on her eating an apple.
After “living in the subway for four months,” Natali realized that he’d found his calling.
I never felt that I was American the way other people were American. So I made America my subject, and I thought that’s what I am going to do for the rest of my life.
Also mentioned:
- Hugh Edwards of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Los Padres National Forest
- “The Color of Paradise” by Enrico Natali
I interviewed Enrico Natali remotely on August 15, 2023.