Who took the famous 1945 Times Square photograph commonly called V-J Day in Times Square?

Alfred Eisenstaedt took the famous 1945 photograph commonly called V-J Day in Times Square.

The image shows a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white dress in New York City’s Times Square during celebrations marking Japan’s surrender. Eisenstaedt photographed the scene on August 14, 1945, as crowds reacted to news that the war with Japan was ending. Life magazine published the photograph the following week.

The woman was later identified as Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant, and the sailor was identified as George Mendonsa. Neither person was acquainted with the other before the spontaneous kiss. The image became one of the best-known visual symbols of relief and celebration at the end of World War II.

The photograph is sometimes mistaken for a posed portrait or confused with another Times Square image by photographer Victor Jorgensen. Jorgensen’s photograph showed a similar moment from a different angle and was published by the U.S. Navy. Eisenstaedt’s version, with its distinctive composition, became the iconic image.