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The Perfect Kiss
By Fredric Koeppel
November 8, 2005
Home from Iraq, Marine Corporal Donnie Anderson gets loving welcome from
his wife, Stacy Anderson, of Germantown. She "planted a big kiss on him"
in front of God and CA photographer Michael McMullan and everyone.
A kiss is still a kiss but a photograph of a kiss can get you on the
"Today" show.
That's where The Commercial Appeal's photo assignment editor Michael
McMullan along with kissers Stacy and Donnie Anderson of Germantown, are
going Friday for the announcement of the winner of the "Search for the
Perfect Kiss" contest launched Sept. 16 by Life magazine and NBC's "Today"
show.
McMullan's photograph is one of four finalists selected from about 3,000
entries. The contest celebrates the 60th anniversary of the iconic image,
shot by Alfred Eisenstaedt, of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on
V-J Day, 1945. That picture of joyful spontaneity and elation at the end
of World War II has become a part of America's cultural consciousness.
The Eisenstaedt photo, said Life managing editor Bill Shapiro, "had all
the ingredients to make it an icon. It perfectly captured America's spirit
at that incredible moment in history, the composition is ideal, and it
illustrates a scene of pure romance and joy."
Perhaps through the contest, he said, "We'll find an image with that same
potential to touch us all."
Since its inception in 1936, Life has been known for award-winning
photographs and photo-essays that capture the essence of humanity's joys
and sorrows. The magazine ceased publication in 1972, returned as a
monthly from 1978 to 2000, and is now distributed weekly with more than 70
newspapers across the country.
The couples in the other finalist images are Bobbie Zeltman and Matthew
Suroff of Riverdale, N.Y., a self-portrait; Nilde and John Wozniczka of
Syracuse, N.Y., photographed by Rick Policastro; and Johnny Warner and
Vanessa Davis-Warner of Birmingham, photographed by Jacque Meyer.
The winning couple and their photographer will be awarded trips to Maui,
Hawaii.
According to contest rules, 30 percent of the judges decision in
determining the finalists depends on "the capacity for the photo to be an
iconic image"; 30 percent on the background story; 30 percent on the
quality of the photograph; and 10 percent on the "romantic nature of the
Partners' relationship."
The finalists were represented in taped segments on "Today" on Monday. For
the rest of the week, the public can vote for the winning images on the
NBC Web site, www.today.msnbc.com.
For McMullan, 49, it started as a "routine assignment to cover the return
of a company of Marines from Iraq in September 2003," he said.
"The flight was delayed about five hours, and hundreds of family members
were waiting and getting really anxious. It got dark, and the ceremony was
moved indoors, so it changed from a best-case scenario, as far as a
picture was concerned."
Once the Marines arrived and had marched in, McMullan realized that after
the families were reunited, the auditorium would turn to pandemonium.
"So as a photographer, I'm thinking that now is the time to find a subject
I can count on, and that's when I saw Stacy. She looked as if she was
about to bust. I thought she was my best chance to get a picture that
would convey the emotion in the room at the time."
Journalists are supposed to maintain complete objectivity, "but by now,"
said McMullan, "I'm getting pretty drained. I mean, the stress, I'm pushed
to the wall on deadline, the aisles are jammed with people and I'm walking
across the arms of the seats. There was this enormous sense of joy, of
relief that these family members were feeling, and I was pretty much
overwhelmed. Things aren't supposed to affect you as a journalist, and I
didn't know any of these people, but by this time, I have tears in my
eyes."
McMullan's photograph of Stacy Anderson kissing her husband, Corporal
Donnie Anderson, was published in The Commercial Appeal on Sunday, Sept.
28, 2003.
And that, McMullan thought, was that.
Until he got a call from NBC two weeks ago.
Stacy Anderson had seen a plea for entries in "The Perfect Kiss" contest
in the Life supplement that is included in Thursday editions of The
Commercial Appeal.
She thought the framed 8-by-10 copy of the photo in the newspaper was
exactly what the publication was looking for.
"It's such a great picture that captured the true happiness we were
feeling at that moment," said Anderson, who sent in a digital copy of the
photo along with a short essay.
When her husband found his family in the crowd that day, he knelt down to
hug his children and then looked up at his wife.
"I grabbed his face and planted a big kiss on him," she said. "He's so
cute, I just had to."
-- Fredric Koeppel: 529-2376
Reporter Christine Arpe Gang contributed to this story.
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