Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German Jew, photographer and photojournalist. He is known for his candid photographs, best known for his photographs capturing the V-Day Celebration. Eisenstaedt lived and worked very successfully in Germany as a photographer before WWII broke out. He was well-known for his skills and even took photographs of a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini of Italy. But when the war broke out his escaped to New York where he lived until he died in 1994. He was able to get a job with LIFE magazine. He had over 90 of his photographs displayed on the front page of the magazine over the course of his 36 year long career with the company. Without a doubt though, his most recognized work took place on V-J Day. He went out onto Times Square with his camera and was able to photograph a sailor kissing a girl as people were celebrating. It showed the excitement and enthusiasm that the entire country had for winning the war. His photos have a movement and energy to them that most photographs dont. When you look at his work you can hear the sound of the cheering and laughter. Its not just a photograph, its a thousand words.
Classic photographer... truly one of the best of that early generation. Photo-journalism was a completely new thing. Thankfully, he and many other well known immigrés left Germany just in time. Arguably, the United States' became such a mecca for creative photography during and after the war years due to the large number of Europeans that came over. Before that, much of the most avant-guard work was taking place in Europe.
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