In “Two Sides to Every Story,” Micaela Bedell deploys a familiar academic trope: utilizing the methodology or theory of a renowned or established scholar as a means to interpret a source. In this essay, the theoretical framework is provided by Jules David Prown, a pre-eminent figure in American material culture studies. Prown developed his three step methodology—observation, deduction, and speculation—to bring to life the information contained in non-textual sources. In this essay, the author uses Prown’s framework to interpret Alfred Eisenstaedt’s well-recognized photograph, “VJ-Day Kiss.” Prown’s methodology not only informs the student’s approach to interpretation, but also provides the structure for the essay: paragraphs and sections emerge as the student observes details, deduces sights, smells, and sounds, and finally speculates on the meaning of the image. The limitations of this approach may be in its detachment from historical context, but the essay nonetheless showcases the immense descriptive vigor of a close reading of an image.