tristetriste:

V-J Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt and Kissing the War Goodbye by Victor Jorgensen

V-J Day in Times Square is a photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt that features an American sailor kissing a lady in a white dress on Victory over Japan Day in Times Square, New York City, on August 14, 1945. The photograph was published one week later in Life magazine among many other photographs of celebrations around the country presented in a twelve-page spread entitled Victory.

Mr. Jorgensen, a U.S. Navy photo journalist, captured another view of the same scene, which was published in the New York Times the following day. It does show less of Times Square in the background, lacking the characteristic view of the complex intersection as in Mr. Eisenstaedt’s photograph - ergo, the identity of the location is a lot less obvious. It is also darker and shows fewer details of the main subjects. Interestingly enough, unlike Mr. Eisenstaedt’s photograph (which is protected by copyright) this Navy photograph is in the public domain as it was produced by a federal government employee on official duty.