The still life is one of the oldest genres of art, yet it found new life with photographers working in the 1930s. Many artists, like Herbert List, embraced this older artistic category in order to experiment with new, modern ways of image making. Like traditional still lifes, List’s image presents a variety of textural objects: smooth eggs, rough rocks, grainy sand, and glassy water. Yet, these objects have not been carefully arranged on a table; instead, they are organized within the frame of the camera, presenting a new kind of photographic still life.