Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. One of the most prolific photographers of the twentieth century, he began his career in pre-World War II Germany, and after moving to the U.S., achieved prominence as a staff photographer for Life Magazine which featured more than 90 of his pictures on its covers with over 2,500 photo stories published.
Among his most famous cover photographs was the V-J Day celebration in New York City of “an exuberant American sailor kissing a nurse in a dancelike dip [that] summed up the euphoria many Americans felt as the war came to a close.” Eisenstaedt was “renowned for his ability to capture memorable images of important people in the news, including statesmen, movie stars and artists” and for his candid photographs, taken with a small 35mm Leica camera and typically with only natural lighting.
V-J Day in Times Square. Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt
Professional photographer
Eisenstaedt became a full-time photographer in 1929 when he was hired by the Associated Press office in Germany, and within a year he was described as a “photographer extraordinaire.” He also worked for Illustrierte Zeitung, published by Ullstein Verlag, then the world’s largest publishing house. Four years later he photographed the famous first meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy. Other notable, early pictures by Eisenstaedt include his depiction of a waiter at the ice rink of the Grand Hotel in St. Moritz in 1932 and Joseph Goebbels at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933. Although initially friendly, Goebbels scowled at Eisenstaedt when he took the photograph.
Because of oppression in Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Eisenstaedt’s family saw that the Nazis were targeting Germany’s Jewish population and decided to emigrate to the U.S. They arrived in 1935 and settled in New York, where he subsequently became a naturalized citizen. The following year, 1936, Time founder Henry Luce bought Life magazine, and Eisenstaedt, already noted for his photography in Europe, was asked to join the new magazine as one of its original staff of four photographers, including Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. He remained a staff photographer from 1936 to 1972, achieving notability for hisphotojournalism of news events and celebrities.
Along with entertainers and celebrities, he photographed politicians, philosophers, artists, industrialists and authors during his career with Life, and by 1972 he had photographed nearly 2,500 stories and had more than 90 of his photos on the cover. With Life’s circulation of two million readers, Eisenstaedt’s reputation increased substantially. According to one historian, “his photographs have a power and a symbolic resonance that made him one of the best Lifephotographers.[8] In subsequent years, he also worked for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Town & Country and others.
Style and technique
From his early years as professional photographer he became an enthusiast for small 35 mm film cameras, especially the Leica camera. Unlike most news photographers at the time, who relied on much larger and less portable 4″ x 5″ press cameras with flash attachments, Eisenstaedt preferred the smaller hand-held Leica which gave him greater speed and more flexibility when shooting news events or capturing candids of people in action. His photos were also notable as a result of his typical use of natural light as opposed to relying of flash lighting. In 1944, Life described him as the “dean of today’s miniature-camera experts.”
At the time, this style of photojournalism, with a smaller camera with its ability to use available light, was then in its infancy. It also helped Eisenstaedt create a more relaxed atmosphere when shooting famous people, where he was able to capture more natural poses and expressions: “They don’t take me too seriously with my little camera,” he stated. “I don’t come as a photographer. I come as a friend.” It was a style he learned from his 35 years in Europe, where he preferred shooting informal, unposed portraits, along with extended picture stories. As a result, Life began using more such photo stories, with the magazine becoming a recognized source of such photojournalism of the world’s luminaries. Of Life’s photographers, Eisenstaedt was most noted for his “human interest” photos, and less the hard news images used by most news publications.
His success at establishing a relaxed setting for his subjects was not without difficulties, however, when he needed to capture the feeling he wanted. Anthony Eden, resistant to being photographed, called Eisenstaedt “the gentle executioner.” Similarly, Winston Churchill told him where to place the camera to get a good picture. And during a photo shoot of Ernest Hemingway in his boat, Hemingway, in a rage, tore his own shirt to shreds and threatened to throw Eisenstaedt overboard.