Who took the famous Times Square V-J Day kiss photograph published in Life magazine?

Alfred Eisenstaedt took the famous Times Square V-J Day kiss photograph published in Life magazine.

The image shows a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform on August 14, 1945, as crowds celebrated the expected announcement of Japan's surrender in New York City. Eisenstaedt was working as a photographer for Life and captured the scene with a Leica camera.

The woman was later identified as Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant, while the sailor's identity remained disputed for decades. The photograph became one of the most recognizable images associated with the end of World War II, although it was not a record of the formal surrender ceremony itself.

A second photograph of the same moment was taken by Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen and published by The New York Times. Jorgensen's image, titled “Kissing the War Goodbye,” was a separate composition and entered the public domain because it was made by a federal employee on official duty.