My dear friend Libby Hall, an exceptional street and press photographer, writer, and collector, has passed away at the age of 81. She was widely recognized for her remarkable collection of vintage dog photographs, which were published as four books by Bloomsbury between 2000 and 2007. The collection, known as “possibly the largest number of canine pictures ever gathered by any single person,” was later acquired by the Bishopsgate Institute.
Libby’s passion for photography began at a young age. She taught herself the craft by devouring Popular Photography magazine after receiving a Box Brownie camera for her seventh birthday. At just 16 years old, she left the Rudolf Steiner school in New York and embarked on a six-month stint in the photo lab at Life magazine. She then worked as a distribution manager at Village Voice.
One of the highlights of Libby’s photographic career was her time in Vienna, where she captured images that she held most dear. It was during this period that she developed her skills further, with guidance from the renowned American photojournalist Walker Evans.
In the mid-1960s, Libby relocated to Suffolk and began documenting everyday life at her local pub, the Engineer in Leiston. Her photographs chronicled the community’s experiences following the opening of a nearby nuclear power station in Sizewell.
Libby was born in New York to William McKinley Osborne II, a newspaperman, restaurateur, and clerk, and Charlotte (nee Cameron), a designer and antique-store owner. Throughout her childhood, the family ventured between Manhattan, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.
During her time in Vienna from 1960, Libby formed a four-year relationship with Arthur S (Anand) Lall, an Indian diplomat and writer. She later had a brief marriage to Peter Wood. In 1964, her encounter with the writer John Berger in a Genevan supermarket sparked a lifelong friendship. I met Libby later on while writing Berger’s biography. In 1966, while working as a press photographer for the Daily Worker (now the Morning Star) in London, she met and married the renowned political cartoonist Tony Hall. They settled in Clapton, east London.
Following her marriage, Libby gradually stepped back from her professional photography career. In her later years, she pursued Open University courses in geology and science, establishing herself as an expert on Arnold Bennett’s novels.
After Tony’s passing in 2008, Libby had “Stop! Do not resuscitate, living will extant” tattooed on her chest. In 2017, she was diagnosed with end-stage idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, but her sense of humor, curiosity about the world, and imaginative spirit remained unaffected. Shetland became her final fascination, and though she knew she would never visit, she would fall asleep every night while listening to Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham’s song “By Dundas Loch.”
In her self-published memoir released in 2019, Libby wrote, “Mine has been a good life measured out in dogs.” Her beloved canine companion, Pip, now resides with her stepson, Andrew, and his wife, Laura. She is survived by Andrew, her brother Billy, and a legacy of creativity and passion that touched all who knew her.
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