Le Basier de L' Hotel de Ville, Paris

One of France’s most respected and prolific photojournalists, Doisneau delighted in photographing life on the street: nighttime revelers, beggars, artists, dancers, pub-goers, and young lovers. During the day, he observed the workings of everyday life: people at work, butchers, animals, schoolchildren, Plein-air painters, and wedding processions. He was not a “street photographer” because he composed his pictures. He planned them, waited for them to occur, or set them up, case in point, the famous Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville.