Portrait of photographer Thomas McAvoy with his camera. (Photo by John Sadovy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Portrait of photographer Thomas McAvoy with his camera. (Photo by John Sadovy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

LIFE debuted in 1936 with four staff photographers—Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Peter Stackpole and Thomas McAvoy—all now regarded as masters. A newspaper veteran before joining the magazine, McAvoy (1905-1966) specialized in candid news shots. He was nearly alone in his approach, as the uncontrived portrait was then revolutionary. McAvoy was the complete pictorial chronicler of Franklin D. Roosevelt; one series of natural shots so unnerved the President that the White House barred further unposed pictures. McAvoy took the first photo of the Senate in session, prompting a rule banning candid Senate shots. The conventions of journalism that restrain photographers today did not hold McAvoy back. He once hired a limousine and improvised a pass to sneak into a high-security cold-war diplomatic reception. He would employ all kinds of trickery—disguises, teeny cameras snapped discreetly—to get an honest picture.

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

Blind doctor Albert A. Nast holding his ear to the back of a 3 month old instead of using a stethoscope. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Blind doctor Albert A. Nast holding his ear to the back of a 3 month old instead of using a stethoscope. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

German Ethologist Dr. Konrad Z. Lorenz studying unlearned habits of ducks and geese at Woodland Institute. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

German Ethologist Dr. Konrad Z. Lorenz studying unlearned habits of ducks and geese at Woodland Institute. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt listening to speeches. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt listening to speeches. (Photo by Thomas McAvoy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

More Like This

Babies crawling during the 8th annual Diaper Service Derby sponsored by the National Institute of Diaper Services. (Photo by Cornell Capa/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Cornell Capa

An unidentified woman looks at the tag on one of many paintings in a storage room in the home of financier and art collector Chester Dale, New York, New York, 1938. (Photo by Rex Hardy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Rex Hardy

Light pattern produced by a time exposure of the light tipped rotor blades of a grounded helicopter. (Photo by Andreas Feininger/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Andreas Feininger

American sailors on shore leave sit in a pedicab while their buddy takes their picture, Shanghai, China, December 1945. (Photo by George Lacks/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

George Lacks

Wife and daughter of a US soldier sitting in a first class dining car looking out at German "expels" travelling in boxcars. (Photo by Walter Sanders/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Walter Sanders

Owner of the foam rubber store, Forcite, Inc., Victor Sabatino questioning a Chicago administrative manager Herman Horowitz. (Photo by Grey Villet/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Grey Villet