Alfred Eisenstaedt

Born on 6 December 1898, in Dirschau West Prussia, this truly revolutionary photographer stood out amongst his peers. An absolute genius when it came to capturing candid moments, he relied on natural light and effective positioning to achieve his distinctive style.

Diminutive in size, about 5ft 4 inches, Alfred Eisenstaedt became a giant in the realm of photo journalism and received many awards and recognition, for his in his twilight years, from. Having received his first camera and Eastman Kodak No. 3 at the age of 14, from an uncle, it would not be for another 4 years before his interest in photography would bloom. The family moved to Germany. Drafted into the WWI German force, fighting on the front lines in Flanders, he became the sole survivor of his artillery battery on the 9th of April 1918. He took shrapnel to both legs, which would take a full year to heal.

During this time Alfred Eisenstaedt once again became interested in photography, studied light and composition by visiting various museums. Not knowing at that time that photojournalism would soon be a major career opportunity. Alfred Eisenstaedt became a belt-and-bottom salesman and used his savings to purchase some photographic equipment and would develop his pictures in his bathroom. On vacation in Czechoslovakia in 1927, he photographed a tennis player and sold his picture to Der Welt Spiegel for about 20 dollars. A friend had suggested that he enlarge his photo, and lacking in technical expertise a friend introduced him to an enlarger – that was when the great passion for photography really began and he saw the potential to capture images that were pleasing to him.

Alfred Eisenstaedt had the opportunity to work with famed European photographers such as Dr Erich Salomon and Martin Munkasci.Salomon, he believed was the true father of candid photography. In the early 1930s, he found himself freelancing for Pacific and Atlantics Photos, that later became Associated Press.Eisenstaedt changed to the Innovative Leica 35mm camera, which he used to photograph celebrities, famous artists and statement and the great social events of the time. His method was an unobtrusive technique his subjects being oblivious to him being there.One of his assignments was to capture Hilter and Mussolini at their famed meeting in Italy– putting him in the forefront as a candid photographer.

Alfred Eisenstaedt immigrated to America, two years after Hitler became Germany’s Fuhrer. On a visit to New York, in 1949 he fell in love with South African Kathy Kaye and married her. He soon caught the eye of Henry Luce, the founder of Time Magazine and was recruited together with Thomas McAvoy, Peter Stackpole and Margaret Bourke-White to work on a secret project which turned into the launch of Life Magazine in 1936. His photo of Westpoint soon made the cover along with many more depicting the economic recovery after the Great Depression. Eisenstaedt traversed the length and breadth of America photographing the life of the ordinary and not so ordinary America. Fortunately, he was not sent to cover WW2 as he was not an American citizen so would have been at risk. Instead, he landed several plumb opportunities to photograph the famous celebrities of the time.

His famous picture include the V-Day kiss featured on the cover Life magazine, the famous photo of Sophia Loren in a negligee that caused some an outcry from the magazines readers for being too risqué. Alfred Eisenstaedt traveled to post war Europe and Japan and had the distinct privilege of accompanying Emperor Hirohito to survey the destruction of the atom bomb and then once again to Korea with the American troops. Alfred Eisenstaedt had the privilege of doing a portrait shot of Winston Churchill.

During his photographic career he produced more than 100 covers for LIFE magazine and in total more than 10 000 prints, sticking to relatively outdated equipment in his later career.