Lucien Aigner
Born in Hungary in 1901, Lucien Aigner’s parents thought their son was destined to study law. But Aigner had different ideas about where he was headed, especially after receiving a box Brownie camera for his ninth birthday. A few years later, as a cub reporter, he took his first pictures with his folding Ica Atom for the Hungarian daily Az Est and, then, an event that truly changed the course of Aigner’s life: the day he was called to his editor’s office and introduced to a man Aigner described as a “gremlin-like creature,” an American photographer named James Abbe. Aigner was assigned to escort Abbe around Budapest to help him get a picture story about Hungary for a British magazine. As Aigner later wrote, “Our Budapest adventure was so successful that he offered me a job as his manager in Paris. Since his offer was accompanied by a check for travel and my intent since childhood had been to seek a career abroad, I accepted. Thus my `cub’ reporting days with Az Est came to an abrupt end and at the age of 24, I was off to Paris to join Abbe.”
Aigner soon found that his new boss was not nearly as ambitious as he. In fact, Abbe would often cancel portrait sittings and other photo assignments just because he wasn't “in the mood” to work. That, combined with Aigner’s lack of proficiency in the French language led the young reporter to the `universal language’ of photography and the newest camera on the market at the time, the Leica.
Back then, cameras were not only cumbersome but news photographers were restricted to roped-off areas so that they wouldn't interfere with official proceedings. This meant that most photos of news events featured subjects lined up, stiffly facing the cameras, what we know today as the “photo op!” By the early 30’s, as tensions rose in Europe, Aigner and his contemporaries – including Alfred Eisenstein and Robert Capa – began using the recently invented and unobtrusive 35mm Leica cameras to cover events. This allowed them to capture more spontaneous news events and helped to lay the foundation of modern photojournalism. In addition, since Aigner was quite short (just over five feet tall), security barely noticed him and he was able to take photos that quickly won him the recognition of European magazine and news editors – and lots of work.
He first came to the United States in 1936 on an assignment, which is when he first met Sara Delano Roosevelt, the President’s mother. She would later help him to settle permanently in America. By then – it was 1938 -- he was married with a young son, and, with war brewing in Europe, he decided to leave Paris for the U.S., knowing that his brother, Etienne, his sister, Betty, and their spouses would remain behind. As he planned his family’s departure, he had a difficult choice to make. “We had space on the ship to take either the baby carriage for my infant son or 50,000 of my negatives in a suitcase. We took the baby carriage.” He left the suitcase in the bathtub of his sister’s apartment in Paris to protect it from bombs. The apartment was taken over by German troops, but, months later, Aigner’s brother went back to find the battered suitcase, still intact – saved by the concierge who had hidden it from the Germans. Years later, when Aigner brought his siblings to the U.S., Etienne brought with him the famous “suitcase”, which Aigner promptly stored in his basement – and forgot about for years.
In the late 1970’s, when Eastman Kodak asked him to test some new photo paper, he remembered the “suitcase”. He gave up his portrait studio to focus on cataloging and indexing his nearly 100,000 negatives and exhibiting his work around the world, a project he worked on til his death.
Aigner soon found that his new boss was not nearly as ambitious as he. In fact, Abbe would often cancel portrait sittings and other photo assignments just because he wasn't “in the mood” to work. That, combined with Aigner’s lack of proficiency in the French language led the young reporter to the `universal language’ of photography and the newest camera on the market at the time, the Leica.
Back then, cameras were not only cumbersome but news photographers were restricted to roped-off areas so that they wouldn't interfere with official proceedings. This meant that most photos of news events featured subjects lined up, stiffly facing the cameras, what we know today as the “photo op!” By the early 30’s, as tensions rose in Europe, Aigner and his contemporaries – including Alfred Eisenstein and Robert Capa – began using the recently invented and unobtrusive 35mm Leica cameras to cover events. This allowed them to capture more spontaneous news events and helped to lay the foundation of modern photojournalism. In addition, since Aigner was quite short (just over five feet tall), security barely noticed him and he was able to take photos that quickly won him the recognition of European magazine and news editors – and lots of work.
He first came to the United States in 1936 on an assignment, which is when he first met Sara Delano Roosevelt, the President’s mother. She would later help him to settle permanently in America. By then – it was 1938 -- he was married with a young son, and, with war brewing in Europe, he decided to leave Paris for the U.S., knowing that his brother, Etienne, his sister, Betty, and their spouses would remain behind. As he planned his family’s departure, he had a difficult choice to make. “We had space on the ship to take either the baby carriage for my infant son or 50,000 of my negatives in a suitcase. We took the baby carriage.” He left the suitcase in the bathtub of his sister’s apartment in Paris to protect it from bombs. The apartment was taken over by German troops, but, months later, Aigner’s brother went back to find the battered suitcase, still intact – saved by the concierge who had hidden it from the Germans. Years later, when Aigner brought his siblings to the U.S., Etienne brought with him the famous “suitcase”, which Aigner promptly stored in his basement – and forgot about for years.
In the late 1970’s, when Eastman Kodak asked him to test some new photo paper, he remembered the “suitcase”. He gave up his portrait studio to focus on cataloging and indexing his nearly 100,000 negatives and exhibiting his work around the world, a project he worked on til his death.
The Fuehrer's Smirk, 1936
Aigner photographed Adolf Hitler in Garmisch Partenkirchen at the Winter Olympics of 1936. From the second floor balcony,he was reviewing the parade of participating athletes.Grouped by nations, they marched past,dipping their flags in a massive international show of recognition. He acknowledged every salute with a lazy lift of arm. It was snowing heavily and he was 30 feet or so from the Fuerher.
I think this photo is really beautiful because of the angle it's been taken at. You can see a lot of snow on the decorations around the balcony and you can also see the snow falling down. Around the Fuerher you can see other people smiling and looking very happy and to think that it was such a happy day for everyone,maybe he would of smiled aswell or showed some other emotions rather than anger and annoyance but this photo just proves to me that he wasn't a happy person at all and he didn't have any happy emotions in him because he's smirking and he looks like he's not very pleased with what is happening and also like it says above,he's waving his arm lazily which shows he's not very interested in the Olympics.
Benito Mussolini,1935
This photo not only became a cover of Newsweek Magazine, but one of Aigner's most controversial and widely published picture ever.Photographers have been barred from the Conference itself but he caught II Duce in this off-guard pose at the railroad station. Mussolini, a show-off and 'poseur', rarely let himself be caught in such an unbecoming pose.
I think this photo is really interesting because of the way it's been taken and the way the man on the photo looks like.I think that it was really hard to catch such a serious person having a weak moment and take a photograph of him looking very silly and not concentrating.But if you look around the main person, you can see others looking like they are looking straight at the camera and they're not making sure that Mussolini is looking his best.
The Million Dollar Legs- Sonja Henie
Three-time Olympic figure-skating champion, Sonja Henie, the Norwegian star of the Ice Follies,was known for her short temper.But with Aigner, she couldn't have been more patient. He had a daring idea: to shoot her million-dollar legs in action close-ups,dramatized by artistic lighting. She skated into action and the focus of the camera and lights- and, then, freezing a fraction of a second for a short-time exposure.
I think this photo is very beautiful. It takes a lot of patience and time to make a photo look as perfect as this. I really like that the legs of Sonja Henie are positioned right in the middle of the shot and they are really straight and to say that she was moving at the moment this photo was taken, the legs are not blurred at all. I think that this photo is called a 'million dollar legs' because she is a champion of figure skating and she trains a lot,spends a lot of time training for the Olympics and any other tournaments that she has and it takes a lot of money and time.