Fritz Henle (1909-1993) - Virgin Islands Carnival Frederiksted / St. Croix

Sugarmill at Annaberg St. John U. S. Virgin Islands

Fritz Henle ( 1909 – 1993) was a German-born photographer, known as "Mr. Rollei" for his use of the 2.25" square format film used in the Rolleiflex camera. Called, "the last classic freelance photographer" by photohistorian, Helmut Gernsheim, he had a career spanning more than 60 years, during which he amassed an archive of more than 110,000 negatives, representing images of Europe, India, Japan, Hawai, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Henle was born in Dortmund, Germany in 1909. He initially studied physics, before entering the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt fϋr Lichtbildwesen (Bavarian State College for Photography) in Munich. Having completed his studies he spent a year photographing works of art in Florence. During 1934 he travelled all over Italy, taking pictures for the Lloyd steamship line, and in 1935–6 he visited China and Japan. In 1936 he carried out an assignment for Time-Life, and his pictures were published in Fortune magazine.

signed + dedicated on verso