Alfred Hitchcock - Paper

I am writing about Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 24, 1995) who was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He is best known for his photograph of the V-J Day celebration and for his candid photographs, frequently made using a 35mm Leica camera. Eisenstaedt was born in Dirschau in West Prussia, Imperial Germany in 1898. His family moved to Berlin in 1906. Eisenstaedt was fascinated by photography from his youth and began taking pictures at age 14 when he was given his first camera, an Eastman Kodak Folding Camera with roll film. Eisenstaedt successfully became a full-time photographer in 1929. Four years later he photographed a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy. Because of oppression in Hitler's Nazi Germany, Eisenstaedt immigrated to the United States in 1935 where he lived in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, for the rest of his life. He worked as a staff photographer for Life magazine from 1936 to 1972.
Some of Eisenstaedt's last pictures were taken in late August 1993, when he photographed President Bill Clinton with wife, Hillary, and daughter, Chelsea. The photograph session took place at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard, and was documented by this photograph published in People magazine on September 13, 1993. Eisenstaedt died in his bed at midnight at his beloved Menemsha Inn cottage known as the "Pilot House" at age 96, in the company of his sister-in-law, Lucille Kaye (LuLu), and friend, William E. Marks.

I am writing about Thomas E. Franklin (born 1966) who is an American photographer for The Bergen Record, best known for his photograph Raising the Flag at Ground Zero, which depicts firefighters raising the American flag at the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Franklin is a 1988 graduate of the State University of New York at Purchase. He has been with The Record since 1993, and has been a professional photojournalist and documentary photographer for over 20 years. He has won numerous awards for his photography, and his work has been widely published and exhibited. Franklin has appeared on radio and television many times to discuss his photography. He has been a guest on many national programs, including: The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and Oprah. He has been a guest lecturer at major colleges and universities around the country and remains a highly sought-after public speaker in his local community, where he frequently speaks to civics groups, schools, corporations, and local organizations as a motivational speaker, sharing his unique experiences of 9/11 and his career.
Presently, he produces a weekly photo-column called 'Picture this', featuring colorful aspects of life in North Jersey. In 2007, Picture This, received an Award of Excellence from iPOY (International Pictures of the Year) and a First Place award in Feature Photography from SPJ-NJ. Franklin is also an adjunct professor of photojournalism at Ramapo College, and lives in Ramsey, New Jersey.

V-J Day in Times Square is a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that shows an American sailor kissing a woman in a white dress on Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) in Times Square, New York City, on August 14, 1945. The photograph was published a week later in Life magazine among many photographs of celebrations around the country that were presented in a twelve-page section titled Victory. Kissing was a favorite pose encouraged by media photographers of service `personnel during the war, but Eisenstaedt was photographing a spontaneous event that occurred in Times Square as the announcement of the end of the war on Japan when he captured this photo.
This narrative includes description and observations of the subject matter. In this photograph I see a couple kissing. There is a lady in a white dress with white high heels and a man in a black sailor suit wearing a white sailor hat. The focus of this picture is on the loving couple. The love and care between the couple is very noticeable in this photo. The man has his arm around the woman’s waist and her neck, holding her close to his body. Both of their lips are attached together very passionately. The color of this photo is gray scale. The texture of the background is smooth and calming focusing on the couple. From a design point of view, the main element of art in the photograph is value. The contrast in this photo is very noticeable. The bottom of the photo is much darker than the top and the sailor’s suit is much darker than the rest of the picture.
In this photograph the light source is very dark in some spots and very bright in other spots. The light is coming from the middle of the top of the picture, the sky. The light fades darker towards the bottom of the picture. The brighter spots are on the people with white outfits on and the darker spots are on the people with black outfits on. Eisenstaedt use of light lets the person viewing the photo focus more on the couple kissing. The camera angle was straight on the couple.
Many of Eisenstaedt’s life work were photos of present events that have a huge impact on the world. Clearly Alfred had an interest in present events and making history. I really find his photos emotionally moving especially the V-J in Times Square photograph. At first when I saw this photo I started to cry because I can feel the love and passion between this couple. Eisenstaedt truly expressed his feelings in his photographs letting the views feel the emotional feelings too.