Who photographed the famous V-J Day in Times Square image published by Life magazine in 1945?

Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed the famous V-J Day in Times Square image published by Life magazine in 1945.

Eisenstaedt captured the scene on August 14, 1945, as crowds celebrated Japan’s announced surrender in New York City. His photograph shows a sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform in Times Square. Life published the image in its August 27 issue, and it became one of the best-known photographs associated with the end of World War II.

A second photographer, U.S. Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen, also photographed the same moment from another angle. His image was published under the title “Kissing the War Goodbye.” The two photographs are sometimes confused because they depict the same embrace but have different compositions.

The identities of the people in Eisenstaedt’s image were disputed for decades. Later historical and photographic analysis identified them as sailor George Mendonsa and dental assistant Greta Zimmer Friedman, rather than a nurse, as the popular caption often suggested.