Alfred Eisenstaedt Biography

Alfred Eisenstaedt was born on December 6, 1898 in Dirschau, West Prussia, Germany. He is the son of a merchant. He could have followed his father's footsteps if his uncle had not given him an Eastman Kodak Folding camera with roll film as a present for his fourteenth birthday when they moved to Berlin in 1906. This is the beginning Eisenstaedt got interest in photography and later became one of Life magazines most famous photographers.

Eisenstaedt joined the German Army's artillery during the World War I and his leg was seriously injured in April 1918. When he established a level of financial security, he purchased his first photographic equipment and started taking photographs as a freelance photographer for the Pacific and Atlantic Photos in Berlin while he was working as a belt and button salesman in 1920. He started developing his photographs in the bathroom of his house. His first famous photograph is a photograph of a woman playing tennis during the holiday in Czechoslovakia in 1927. The woman had a long shadow in the distance. Four years later, the photograph was sold to Der Welt Spiegel for three marks. It was the time Eisenstaedt decided to leave his job and dedicated himself full time to photography.

Eisenstaedt became a successful photographer in 1929. Four years later, he was invited to photograph the meeting between Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Italy. After two years when Hitler came to power, Eisenstaedt moved to America where he lived in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York for the rest of his life. From 1936 to 1972, he worked as a staff photographer for Life magazine. His works appeared on 90 Life covers which consist of photos of different news events and celebrities like Sophia Loren, Dagmar and Ernest Hemingway. In 1989, Eisenstaedt was awarded by President George Bush the National Medal of Arts during a ceremony on the White House lawn.

Other notable photographs of Eisenstaedt include his depiction of a waiter at the ice rink of a hotel in Saint Moritz in 1932. He also photographed Joseph Geobbels at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933. He used the new Leica 35mm during this period. Eisenstaedt subjects are notable politicians, famous artist and even social events such as the winter in Saint Moritz.

During the later years of his life, Eisenstaedt continued to work for Life magazine. He spent his day reordering his photographs and preparing print for his numerous exhibitions. In an interview in his later years, he said that he still felt like thirty years old who was trapped in a body of a ninety year old man.

In August 1993, Eisenstaedt took his last photograph at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury which is a photograph of President Bill Clinton with his wife Hillary, and their daughter Chelsea. Eisenstaedt died at the age of 96 in his bed at midnight at his beloved Menemsha Inn cottage or known as the Pilot House on August 24, 1995.