Alfred Eisenstead

From the moment Alfred Eisenstaedt realized that he could tell a story with photos, he was awing the world with not what was said, but what was seen within a single photo. Eisenstaedt photographed a variety of people that included Hollywood’s most famous, Nobel Prize winners, and some of the most powerful rulers of his time. He shed a new light onto the photography world as we knew it, and provided a fresh and enlightening perspective on the theory, a picture can tell a thousand words.

Alfred Eisenstaedt was born December 6, 1898 in Dirschau, West Prussia, which is now a part of Poland. Eisenstaedt was the son of a merchant, and at the age of eight he and his family moved to Berlin. Many believe that he would have followed his father’s footsteps if it wouldn’t have been for his uncle. He purchased Alfred his first camera, an Eastman Kodak no.3 folding camera, when Eisenstaedt was only fourteen years old. A few years after receiving his first camera, Eisenstaedt enrolled in the University of Berlin. Eisenstaedt never finished his schooling there. In 1916 he was drafted into the German army during World War I, serving in the front lines until 1918. An injury during the war crippled both of his legs. During his year long recovery, Eisenstaedt “became fascinated by the local art museums, studying the paintings of the masters” (Warren).After recovering full function of his legs, Eisenstaedt became a belt and button salesman in 1922. With the money he saved from working, he purchased photography equipment. He started developing photographs in his bathroom. In 1927, Eisenstaedt captured his first well know picture while on vacation with his family. He photographed a woman playing tennis from a hillside and captured the full shadow of her back swing. He sold the picture in 1927 for what in that time what would have been twelve dollars (Warren).

By the age of 31, Eisenstaedt had quit being a salesman and had become a full time photographer. He worked as a free lance photographer for three years, until he became a part of the Associated Press in 1931. During that time, Eisenstaedt purchased the Leica 35 mm camera, which would allow him to freely move without all of the weighed down equipment. In 1933, Eisenstaedt was assigned to photograph the first meeting of fascist leaders Hitler and Mussolini (Figure 6). His aggressive style allowed him to get within arms reach of the two leaders. Just two years after Hitler took power in Europe, Eisenstaedt immigrated to the United States in 1935(Warren).

As soon as he landed in New York, Eisenstaedt was hired as a photographer for Time magazine. Shortly after his hiring, Time founder Henry Luce started up Life magazine. The magazine premiered on November 23, 1936, which included five pages of Eisenstaedt’s work. In the next week’s issue, Eisenstaedt had his first cover shot, a picture of WestPoint Military Academy. From there Eisenstaedt had made a name for himself in the World, to his friends he was known as Eisie, but to the world he was known as the father of photojournalism (Warren).

Photojournalism is the use of photography in conjunction with the reporting of news in media such as print newspapers, magazines, television news, and internet reporting. Photojournalism is a way for people to connect to far away realities, and to be educated about those realities (Westbrook). A photojournalist’s job is to take a picture to accurately report the news for the public. This may mean taking a picture that the public may not want to see. The use of photographs to report the news did not come until the 1930’s, when a small more portable camera was designed. The introduction of the Leica 35mm camera was the introduction of photojournalism to the world (Warren).

The first golden age of photojournalism lasted from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, the same time that Eisenstaedt experienced tremendous success. From the first moment that he picked up the light weight and portable Leica 35mm camera, the world of

photography was about to change. The ability to be able to carry one bag of supplies and a compact camera was the moment that photographers could blend into the surroundings.

With Eisenstaedt being of short stature, he blended into the scene so naturally that people acted as if he wasn’t there at all. His unique and professional attitude about photography made him stand out from all others. Eisenstaedt once said that he never let politics interfere with his job, because that is when it would start affecting his pictures (Hoffman). From the various world leaders that he photographed to the hundreds of celebrities that he had the privilege of meeting and photographing (Figure 1), he was never scared or intimidated. Eisenstaedt once said “I see them as people and it shows.”

In 1966 Eisenstaedt said (Warren)

“We are only beginning to learn what to