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This photo of an older couple on a plane is going viral for the best reason

(Photo: Getty Images)
(Photo: Getty Images)

In the age of #PlaneBae and the backlash to #PlaneBae, we all still want a reminder that there is love in this world and people who respect others’ privacy on planes. Perhaps that’s why a simple photograph taken by German TV host Patrice Bouédibéla is so captivating.

“#Couplegoals — This morning I witnessed this most adorable scene with an elderly couple who did rather use the comfort of each other than the benefit of a gap served in #BusinessClass,” Bouédibéla wrote on Instagram in English and German, captioning his black-and-white photo of an older woman leaning on an older man’s shoulder in a KLM airplane.

Bouédibéla was on a flight to Amsterdam from Berlin to work when he saw the couple, whom he assumes were in their 80s and American.

What struck him at first was “the calm about them,” Bouédibéla tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We were just boarding, he read something and sat in the middle seat — unusual for business class — so it was an obvious choice [to sit next to his wife], and you could see their unity and bond. . . . It seemed like they spend ages together and are still enjoying it, a state which I don’t see that often.”

Although it is his job to speak to famous people in front of the camera, Bouédibéla opted not to intrude on this scene. His only interaction with them was when he was offered the space under his seat (in front of them) to store his carry-on luggage. This instead was a quiet moment for what he calls his street photography.

“I love photography solely for such a moment like this here, when you can share a moment and evoke an emotion detached from myself as a person,” he says. “I don’t divide people of my interest through their status, rather through the personal link within a specific moment without putting too much weight on it. Simply enjoying the ride called life.”

#Love is in network – #streetphotography

A post shared by Patrice Bouedibela (@patricebouedibela) on Jul 17, 2018 at 5:50am PDT

Others have been enjoying this moment along with Bouédibéla, as the post has over 1,000 likes at the time of this story and dozens have commented on it (mostly in German).

“I only can guess that everybody wishes for such a shoulder in life sometimes,” Bouédibéla says of the response to the photo. “And isn’t the picture beautiful?”

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