Artist Research-Alfred Eisenstaedt

Photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt was born in Germany in 1898.  He was fascinated by photography starting at a very early age, and received his first camera at the age of 14.  In 1933, he photographed a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy.  He also photographed the Clinton family on Martha’s Vineyard two years before his death.  

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Born in France in 1908, Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the first photographers to ever use 35 mm film.  He shot exclusively in black and white, breaking into the photojournalism world in 1937 when his photos of the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were published in the French magazine, Regards.  Cartier typically used Leica 35 mm rangefinder cameras with 50 mm lenses or occasionally a wide-angle for landscapes.  He sometimes wrapped black tape around his camera’s chrome body to make it less noticeable.

 

 

His first Leica camera:

Artist Research-Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. In 1970, she started her career as staff photographer at Rolling Stone magazine, which was new at the time.  Her photographs of celebrities helped to define the image of the magazine.  She also worked for Vanity Fair magazine.  She was the last person to photograph John Lennon, as he was shot five hours after they had a photo shoot.  

Artist Research-Irving Penn

Born in 1917, Irving Penn studied painting, drawing, and graphic design at the University of Arts in Philadelphia.  In 1938, he became a freelance designer and illustrator in New York.  In 1943, he started working as the assistant to an art director at Vogue magazine. In October 1943, Penn’s first photograph, showing various accessories like a glove and bag, was used on the cover of Vogue.  Throughout his career at vogue, he remained true to his style despite various changes in fashion.  Irving Penn captured his subjects clearly and vividly in his photographs.  He remains a favorite among art collectors and museums.

First Vogue cover photo:

Artist Research-Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange was an American documentary-style photographer during the Great Depression.  She is especially known for her iconic portrait of a mother and her children, titled “Migrant Mother.”  She captured raw emotion and pain that acutely represented the overall feeling of life in America at the time.  Her parents were major advocates of exposing her to creativity and art.  Following high school, she studied photography at Columbia University.  By 1918, Lange ran a successful portrait studio with her husband.  She got into documentary photography, photographing people that she came across in the streets.  Often, the captions of her photos were the words of the subjects she captured.  When America entered WWII, she was hired by the Office of War Information to photograph the internment of Japanese Americans. 

Pizza Party Reflections

I was very interested in professor Sybil’s video! I had no idea that she created things like that.  I also enjoyed seeing the photos from the studying abroad trip and hearing about the trip to Thailand.  I am really looking forward to participating in the Photography club! I wasn’t sure before if we had one at St. Edward’s, but I’m so glad we do!