Alfred Stieglitz established the quarterly Camera Work in 1903. Fifty issues were published before it was discontinued in June, 1917. During this time Stieglitz established Camera Work as the most important journal on photography.

Stieglitz published the work of a whole range of photographers in Camera Work, including Lewis Hine, Gertrude Kaswbier, Clarence White, Alvin Longdon Coburnand Edward Steichen. In 1913 Alfred Stieglitz devoted a double issue of the journal to Steichen's photographs. He wrote in the magazine: "Nothing I have ever done has given me quite so much satisfaction as finally sending this number out into the world." The last edition featured the work of Paul Strand, the man Stieglitz considered the most important photographer working at that time.