Victor Jorgensen

Victor Jorgensen (July 8, 1913 – June 14, 1994) was a former Navy photo journalist who probably is most notable for taking an instantly iconic photograph of an impromptu scene in Manhattan on August 14, 1945, but from a different angle and in a less dramatic exposure than that of a photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Both photographs were of the same V-J Day embrace of a woman in a white dress by a sailor. Eisenstaedt's better known photograph, V-J Day in Times Square, was published in Life.

On the day after the images were taken by the two photographers, the one taken by Jorgensen was published in The New York Times. His photograph, which was taken while he was on duty, is retained in the National Archives and Records Administration.

Biography

CDR Edward Steichen photographed above the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington by Jorgensen, November 1943. Jorgensen was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended the University of Oregon and Reed College, graduating in 1936. He married Betty Price on June 17, 1935.

After college, he joined the staff of The Oregonian, working his way up from copy boy to night city editor. During his time at the newspaper, he became interested in photography and by the advent of World War II he was becoming a respected photographer. He served aboard aircraft carriers USS Lexington in the Gilbert Islands (fall 1943); the USS Monterey in the Mariana Islands (1944); destroyer USS Albert W. Grant and shore duty in Borneo and the Philippines during Douglas MacArthur's return in 1944; and the hospital ship USS Solace off Okinawa, spring 1945.

On V-J Day, 1945, both Jorgensen and Eisenstaedt captured the image of a U.S. sailor grabbing a nurse for an impromptu kiss in the midst of Times Square celebrations. In a 2010 article, The New York Times described it as "a defining image of the American century, one that expressed the joy of a nation at its moment of greatest triumph."

In the post-war decade, Jorgensen and his wife traveled the world as a photographer researcher team, contributing to magazines including Fortune, Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Life, and Ladies Home Journal. Jorgensen served as president of the American Society of Media Photographers, working to establish minimum pay scales and fair practices for the photography industry.

Later life

After he left the Navy, Jorgensen settled in Maryland. He took over Chesapeake Skipper magazine, renaming it The Skipper and boosted its subscriptions from 1,500 to 50,000 by 1968. He and his wife moved to Portland at that time and started a boaters' consumer report newsletter. Jorgensen died of cancer in 1994 and was survived by his wife; two daughters; and two sisters.