A former Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen (1913 – 1994) was born in Portland, Oregon. He’s is most notable for taking an iconic photograph of an impromptu scene in Manhattan in 1945, but in a less dramatic exposure and from a different angle than that of a photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Jorgensen attended the University of Oregon and Reed College, from where he graduated in 1936. On June 17, 1935, he married Betty Price. After graduation, Jorgensen joined the staff of The Oregonian, and worked his way up from being a copy boy to night city editor. He became interested in photography during his time at the newspaper, and by the advent of Second World War he was becoming a respected photographer. Jorgensen enlisted in the Navy in 1942, and was recruited by Edward Steichen, along with five others, to join the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit during the war. The six were the initial photographers. Jorgensen served in the Gilbert Islands aboard aircraft carriers USS Lexington.
He also served in the destroyer USS Albert W. Grant, the hospital ship USS Solace off Okinawa, and the USS Monterey in the Mariana Islands; and had some shore duties in the Philippines and Borneo during the return of Douglas MacArthur in 1944. In the post-war era, Jorgensen together with his wife traveled the world as a photographer researcher team. During that time, he contributed to many magazines including Life, Ladies Home Journal, Saturday, Collier's, Fortune, and Evening Post. He served as president of the American Society of Media Photographers, where he worked to establish fair practices and minimum pay scales for the photography industry. After leaving the Navy, he settled in Maryland. The photographer died of cancer in 1994.
