Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White was born in the Bronx in 1904.  In 1927, she graduated from Cornell University.  She began her career in photojournalism with a position at Fortune magazine.  In 1935, she became one of the first photographers hired by Life magazine.  During World War II, she was the first female journalist allowed into combat zones.  Her most notable photographs from the war included her photos of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, some of the first photos from a concentration camp seen outside from Germany.  Bourke-White continued to work as a photographer until her death in 1971.

Robert Capa

Robert Capa was born in Hungary in 1913.  He worked as a photographer in Germany until the Nazis came into power.  He moved the France and became a freelance photographer.  During the Spanish Civil War, Capa established himself as a War Photographer.  In 1939, he moved to the US, then in 1943 he became part of Life magazine.  During World War II, he covered Europe and North Africa.  At D-Day, he photographed Allied troops landing on the beach at Omaha.  After the War, Capa helped found Magnum Photos.  He continued to work as a war photographer during the 1950s, he covered the war in Indo-China.  In 1945, Robert Capa died after stepping on a land-mine.

Alfred Esenstaedt

Alfred Esenstaedt was born in Dirschau, West Prussia in 1898.  During World War I, he was drafted into the German army and was severely injured.  During his recovery, he discovered photography.   Esenstaedt continued living in Germany after the war, but moved to America when Hitler came into power.  In 1936, he became one of the founders of Life magazine.  During most of World War II, he was not permitted to cover the war because he wasn't yet a citizen.  On V-J Day in New York, Esenstaedt captured one of his most famous images, a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square.  After the war ended, he traveled to Japan and photographed the effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.  He continued to work as a photographer for many years for Life.  He photographed people and issues around the world and became notable for his portraits of celebrities.  During his career, he shot nearly 10,000 prints for Life magazine.

Carl Mydans

Carl Mydans was born in Boston in 1907, then in 1930 he graduated from the Boston University School of Journalism.  In 1939, Mydans and his wife, Shelley Smith traveled to Europe on an assignment from Life magazine.  They covered events such as Fascism in Italy and the invasion of France.  During the war he covered both the European and Pacific fronts.  In 1942, he was by the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese war.  Eight and half months later he was released, and in 1944, he traveled to Europe.  There he photographed the end of the European war.  Then he photographed the final campaigns in the Pacific.  After the war, he continued to work for Life magazine, covering both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

W. Eugene Smith

W. Eugene Smith was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1918.  He began his career as a photojournalist working for Newsweek in 1938.  During the same year, he began freelancing for Life magazine.  In 1944, he became a war correspondent for Life.  In the Pacific, he was involved in multiple invasions.  In 1945, Smith was injured in Okinawa.  It would be two years before he recovered.  After his recovery Smith, continued his career as a photojournalist for  Life and later for Magnum.  During this time he created many photo essays, including "Country Doctor" and "Man of Mercy".  W. Eugene Smith died in 1978.