Alfred Eisenstaedt Biography

Alfred Eisenstaedt was a prominent German photographer who rose to worldwide fame with his work for ‘Life Magazine’. His famous picture of a sailor kissing a nurse on the V-J Day celebration in New York remains an iconic image capturing the happiness and joy Americans felt when the World War II came to an end. A highly talented man, Eisenstaedt possessed the uncanny ability to capture memorable images of news-worthy happenings and thus earned the title of "the father of photojournalism". He has captured several of the historical events that shaped the world in the 20th century and has also photographed many a famous personality ranging from dignitaries to film stars, politicians to religious leaders, and artists to common man. His popularity was largely due to the fact that he was unfailingly able to capture the magic of a fleeting moment in his images and convey a thousand emotions through his photographs. He realized his passion for photography the day he set his hands on a camera as a teen and then he quickly went from one success to another. A German by birth, he emigrated to the U.S. during the Nazi regime. Deeply devoted to the art of photography, he experimented with different lenses, filters and lighting effects.