In the century and a half that cameras have been around, photographers have done us the great favor of capturing moments. Previously, artists could endeavor to recreate great moments on canvas, in wood, or in stone. Photography, however, enables us to capture the actual instant, and to show us certain individuals at significant and telling moments.
In 1945, Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed the celebration of VJ Day in Times Square in New York City. With his camera, he captured the sight of a sailor embracing and kissing a nurse there. The faces are not recognizable, but the passion and the exuberance are. That picture has ever since symbolized the moment and the occasion.
A few months earlier, Joe Rosenthal photographed perhaps the only picture from 1945 that is more famous than Eisensta…