Alfred Eisenstaedt Alfred Eisenstaedt ( December 6 , 1898 – August 24 , 1995 ) 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 . Early life . Eisenstaedt was born in Dirschau ( Tczew ) 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 served in the German Army ' s artillery during World War I , and was wounded in 1918 . While working as a belt and button salesman in the 1920s in Weimar Germany , Eisenstaedt began taking photographs as a freelancer for the Pacific and Atlantic Photos ' Berlin office in 1928 . The office was taken over by Associated Press in 1931 . Professional photographer . Eisenstaedt successfully became a full - time photographer in 1929 . Four years later he photographed a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy . Other notable , early pictures by Eisenstaedt include his depiction of a waiter at the ice rink of the Grand Hotel in St . Moritz in 1932 and Joseph Goebbels at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933 . Although initially friendly , Goebbels scowled for the photograph when he learned that Eisenstaedt was Jewish . Because of oppression in Hitler ' s Nazi Germany , Eisenstaedt emigrated 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 . His photos of news events and celebrities , such as Dagmar , Sophia Loren and Ernest Hemingway , appeared on 90 " Life " covers . Eisenstaedt was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1989 by President George Bush in a ceremony on the White House lawn . Martha ' s Vineyard . Eisenstaedt , known as " Eisie " to his close friends , enjoyed his annual August vacations on the island of Martha ' s Vineyard for 50 years . During these summers , he would conduct photographic experiments , working with different lenses , filters , and prisms in natural light . Eisenstaedt was fond of Martha ' s Vineyard ' s photogenic lighthouses , and was the focus of lighthouse fundraisers organized by Vineyard Environmental Research , Institute ( VERI ) . Two years before his death , Eisenstaedt 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 . Notable Eisenstaedt photos . " V - J day in Times Square " . Eisenstaedt ' s most famous photograph is of an American sailor kissing a young woman on August 14 , 1945 in Times Square . He took this famous photograph using a Leica IIIa . ( The photograph is known under various names : " V - J Day in Times Square , V - Day , " etc . ) Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events during the V - J Day celebrations , he stated that he didn ' t get a chance to obtain names and details , which has encouraged a number of mutually incompatible claims to the identity of the subjects . " Portraits of Sophia Loren " . The portraits of Sophia Loren have been described as conveying mischievousness , dignity , and love on the part of both Eisenstaedt and Loren . " Ice Skating Waiter , St . Moritz " . 1932 photograph depicts a waiter at the ice rink of the Grand Hotel . " I did one smashing picture , " Eisenstaedt has written , " of the skating headwaiter . To be sure the picture was sharp , I put a chair on the ice and asked the waiter to skate by it . I had a Miroflex camera and focused on the chair . " Awards . Since 1999 , the Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism .