Public secret love

Today Google's doodle celebrated Robert Doisneau's 100th birthday and I couldn't help but googling his archive. Beautiful images, naughty, spontaneous, sad and joyful... they all tell a story and make our imagination fly. This iconic picture particularly had always made me wonder how lucky he had been in capturing the right moment of love. Today I learned that this was no spontaneous picture, but a composition with some element of magic of course, but the couple, who were indeed a couple, did kiss under Doisneaus's request. I learned their relationship lasted only for 9 months, but their public show of love will last forever. When he was asked if he had photographed the couple without their consent, he answer:

"I would never have dared to photograph people like that. Lovers kissing in the street, those couples are rarely legitimate." Robert Doisneau. 1992

I guess he's right...