Alfred Eisenstaedt

I was not sure if we could use a film-based photographer, but I wanted to mention Alfred Eisenstaedt. He was born in 1898 and was well-known for capturing spontaneous moments. One of my favorites is "VJ Day" in 1945 where he shot a sailor who was excited running around kissing any woman he came by.

He eventually became one of the original staff photographers for Life Magazine. He is mentioned as the "father of photojournalism" and is considered a master of the candid shot. He even states that he enjoys catching an image of someone without them knowing they are being photographed. "For the kind of photography I do, one has to be very unobtrusive and to blend in with the crowd." You would think that would raise ethical questions, especially if the people ever see an unwanted image of themselves posted, yet that is becoming harder and harder to defend nowadays due to technological advances and the world wide web. He had his first one-man exhibition in 1954 at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York and he was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President George Bush in 1989. He has used a range of simple equipments from an Eastman Kodak folding camera that he received when he was 14 to a 2 1/4" Rolleiflex that he loved to use because he could appear like he was shooting your image because it did not have to be held at eye level.


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