Le Baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville (1950) by Robert Doisneau

As soon as the news spread that Emperor Hirohito had accepted the terms of the Declaration of Potsdam, ending World War II, celebrations erupted across America. German photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, author of almost a hundred LIFE magazine covers, was at Times Square, in New York City, capturing the festivities with his Leica, when he spotted a sailor running down the street and spontaneously kissing every women he came across. When the sailor grabbed a nurse clad in white, surrounded by several people with pure joy on their faces, Eisenstaedt pressed the button, snapping one of the most enduring and meaningful images of the history of photography. According to Edith Shain, the nurse, it is a monument to “hope, love, peace and tomorrow.”

As great and iconic as that picture is, there's other "kissing" photo I like more. Robert Doisneau was walking around his hometown, Paris, when he spotted a couple kissing. Shy and respectful, he did nothing at first, but then approached them and asked if they could recreate the moment for him to photograph. Françoise Delbart, 20, and Jacques Carteaud, 23, aspiring stage actors, agreed. Curiously, that image was also first published in LIFE.