Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995) was a professional photographer and photojournalist who is best known for his black and white photograph of an American sailor kissing a young woman in Times Square on VJ Day in August 1945. He was born in Germany and for awhile worked for a newspaper in Berlin.

Eisenstaedt and his family were Jewish; so when persecution began to increase, they came to the US, where the photographer lived in New York for the remainder of his life. He took photos for Life magazine for more than 35 years and his work appeared on more than 90 magazine covers.