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1 January 1864

Born

1881

The family moves to Europe for the children's education

Alfred found the public school he attended to qualify for the City College of New York inadequate, and in 1881 his father sold his company for US$400,000 (other accounts say $40,000) and moved the family to Europe for several years so that the children would receive a better education. Alfred enrolled in the Realgymnasium in Karlsruhe.

1883

First photographs in Berlin

Stieglitz made his first photographs in Berlin in 1883, largely in the conventional manner of the day. According to other accounts, he bought his first camera after staying on in Germany when his family left in 1884.

1884

Stays in Germany for photography

In 1884 his parents returned to America, but the 20-year-old Alfred stayed in Germany: he collected books on photography, bought his first camera, an 8 × 10 plate camera, and travelled through the Netherlands, Italy and Germany, photographing landscapes and country workers. Photography, he later wrote, “fascinated me, first as a toy, then as a passion, then as an obsession.”

1887

First prize for “The Last Joke, Bellagio”

His photograph The Last Joke, Bellagio won first place in the annual photography competition of the British magazine Amateur Photographer.

1890

His sister Flora dies; he returns to New York

In 1890 his sister Flora died in childbirth, and Stieglitz returned to New York. Considering himself an artist, he refused to sell his photographs, so his father bought him a small photography business, the Photochrome Engraving Company, which rarely made a profit because of his demand for quality and the high wages he paid.