Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German journalist and photographer. He was born in 1898, however he moved to the United States in 1935. He has been one of the best photographers of the 20th century. He took several portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Adolph Hitler, Albert Einstein, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, among others. Many of them appeared on the cover of the famous Life magazine.

Each Eisenstaedt’s picture tells a story. Once he took a picture of Joseph Goebbels, the leader of the NSDAP’s propaganda machine and later the minister in charge of all Nazi Propaganda. Eisenstaedt wrote later: Here are the eyes of hate. I have been asked how I felt photographing these men. Naturally, not so good, but when I have a camera in my hand I know no fear. It’s curious aswell that this picture was taken by a Jewish.

By far his most known picture is V-J day in Times Square. It was taken on August 14th 1945, all the nation was overcome with joy and euphoria, the war came to a close. The picture shows a young American sailor kissing a nurse in a memorable scene.

Eisenstaedt once explained the magical moment: I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing every girl in sight. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.

Alfred Eisenstaedt died in 1995 and he’s still in memory of many people.