Actually, one memory I have of my first visit to France, as a teenager in the early '60's, was of a gendarme instructing a young couple on a beach to cease their overt display of affection. I was startled both because it was counter to the stereotype of the 'romantic' French and more conservative than home (UK). Deepest, darkest provincial France too, not a tourist area.I believe that these things made him a stronger photographer when on that fateful day he was chosen to illustrate the fact (?) that public displays of affection in Paris don't cause intolerant cries of "That's what hotels rooms are for!" that they would in the USA.
AndrewF
