In a photographic career spanning sixty years Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898–1995) was the first photographer to consistently practice candid photography, and in his own words, “photographed more people than any other photographer.” His photographs were featured on the front cover of LIFE magazine 92 times and he travelled the world on more than 2500 assignments. Most importantly, his photographs are a testimony to seminal events and key people who in turn shaped the contemporary world.
Born in 1898 in West Prussia, Alfred Eisenstaedt was given his first camera at the age of 14 and sold his first photograph in 1927 to the newspaper Der Weltspiegel at a time when photojournalism was at its very infancy. Narrowly escaping the Holocaust in Europe Eisenstaedt emmigrated to the United States.
He was soon hired along with three other photographers, Margaret Bourke-White, Thomas McAvoy and Peter Stackpole by Time founder Henry Luce, for a secret start-up known only as “Project X.” After six months of testing the mystery venture, it premiered as LIFE magazine on November 23, 1936.
Over his career Eisenstaedt photographed a diverse range of subjects ranging from the first meeting between Hitler and Mussolini, the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb, and post depression America, to portraits of John F Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Marilyn Monroe, to enduring photographs of ordinary people across America and Europe.
As diverse and disparate as Eisenstaedt’s photographs are, all of these images are unified by Eisenstaedt’s continually fresh eye and talent for capturing pivotal moments in the human experience.
Up until his death in 1995, Eisenstaedt was still shooting and adding to his inventory of over 100,000 negatives in his personal office at LIFE magazine.
Eisenstaedt’s first major retrospective exhibition did not come until the age of 88 when the International Center of Photography in New York presented 125 of his prints. Since then he has been granted many awards – including the Presidential Medal of Arts bestowed by President Bush, and the ICP Master of Photography award in 1988.[via michaelhoppengallery.com]
Fidel Castro
Bobby Kennedy
Robert Frost
Hemingway
Sophia Loren
Walt Disney
Eisenstaedt's Celebrity Portraits: Fifty Years of Friends and AcquaintancesBorn in 1898 in West Prussia, Alfred Eisenstaedt was given his first camera at the age of 14 and sold his first photograph in 1927 to the newspaper Der Weltspiegel at a time when photojournalism was at its very infancy. Narrowly escaping the Holocaust in Europe Eisenstaedt emmigrated to the United States.
He was soon hired along with three other photographers, Margaret Bourke-White, Thomas McAvoy and Peter Stackpole by Time founder Henry Luce, for a secret start-up known only as “Project X.” After six months of testing the mystery venture, it premiered as LIFE magazine on November 23, 1936.
Over his career Eisenstaedt photographed a diverse range of subjects ranging from the first meeting between Hitler and Mussolini, the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb, and post depression America, to portraits of John F Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Marilyn Monroe, to enduring photographs of ordinary people across America and Europe.
As diverse and disparate as Eisenstaedt’s photographs are, all of these images are unified by Eisenstaedt’s continually fresh eye and talent for capturing pivotal moments in the human experience.
Up until his death in 1995, Eisenstaedt was still shooting and adding to his inventory of over 100,000 negatives in his personal office at LIFE magazine.
Eisenstaedt’s first major retrospective exhibition did not come until the age of 88 when the International Center of Photography in New York presented 125 of his prints. Since then he has been granted many awards – including the Presidential Medal of Arts bestowed by President Bush, and the ICP Master of Photography award in 1988.[via michaelhoppengallery.com]
“It’s more important to click with people than click the shutter” ~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
“In Times Square on V.J. Day, I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing every girl in sight. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse…I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.” ~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, 1933
“When Hitler and Mussolini met on June 13, 1934, in Venice, Mussolini was the big shot. It was the first meeting between the two dictators, and the last time Hitler appeared in mufti, before taking full power. Two months later, Hitler became the Fuhrer of the Third Reich.” ~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
“At the annual Press Ball in the famous Hotel Adlon, Dietrich wore tails and pants, which was unheard of at that time. She had to stand very still because the exposure was always between half a second and a second. If someone moved I had to take the picture over again.”
~ Alfred Eisenstaedt 1929
~ Alfred Eisenstaedt 1929
When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.
~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
Hiroshima, December, 1945
Once the amateur's naive approach and humble willingness to learn fades away, the creative spirit of good photography dies with it. Every professional should remain always in his heart an amateur. ~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
Jackie Kennedy
Churchill
"All a photographer has to do, is find and catch the story-telling moment." – Alfred Eisenstaedt
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