From a Lenbach Sketch

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.

1888

First and second prizes in the same competition

The following year his works took both first and second places in the same competition. His reputation grew sharply, and British and German magazines began publishing his photographs.

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.

c. 16.11.1893

Married: Emmeline Stieglitz

1897

First issue of Camera Notes

Stieglitz turned the Camera Club's newsletter into a magazine, Camera Notes, with full control over it; the first issue appeared in July 1897, and it was soon considered the finest photographic magazine in the world. The critic Sadakichi Hartmann wrote that artistic photography, the Camera Club and Alfred Stieglitz seemed to him three names for one and the same thing.