Who photographed the famous V-J Day sailor-kissing-woman image in Times Square?

Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed the famous V-J Day sailor-kissing-woman image in Times Square.

Eisenstaedt captured the image in New York City on August 14, 1945, during celebrations surrounding the expected announcement of Japan’s surrender. The photograph shows a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform in Times Square.

Life magazine published the picture the following week, and it became one of the most recognizable photographs associated with the end of World War II. Eisenstaedt used a Leica IIIa camera and photographed the rapidly changing crowd without recording the subjects’ names at the time.

The woman was later identified as Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant, while several men claimed to be the sailor. Another photographer, Victor Jorgensen, captured a different view of the same moment. Jorgensen’s photograph is often confused with Eisenstaedt’s better-known image, but the two pictures have different compositions and publication histories.