An elderly couple pick ripe tomatoes in their garden.

The Lovers

A long-term project by Lauren Fleishman
about humanity and the value of long-lasting relationships.
Photographed with the Leica Q2.

In her long term project, photographer Lauren Fleishman combines her photography with candid interviews, where couples together for over fifty years talk about their love. The project was inspired by the love letters her grandfather wrote to her grandmother during World War II. For the latest part of her long term series, she used a Leica Q2. The compact and unobtrusive Q2 camera allowed her to capture intimate glimpses into the lives of couples in the United States, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
 

Stories of lasting love.

Intimate, not always easy but as diverse as life itself.

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Kerim and Huriye Doganay. Akcay, Turkey. Married on April 17, 1960.

“Nothing has changed in our love in the past 62 years. We never have hurt each other. When we were first married, we didn’t even have cooking oil. I made a bulgar dish without cooking oil and he ate it without complaining. We didn’t reflect our poverty from earlier days to each other. His parents loved me very much. His father told him, 'never break her heart'.”

David and Daphne Price. London, England. Married on November 12, 1972.

“I think we’ve really been in love all our lives together. David was a very eligible bachelor and he became very much a friend of our family. I think the greatest joy my parents had was when we rang them up and said that we just got engaged. Before that, David had many other interests and many other girlfriends. I too had many boyfriends but I was never convinced it was the right one. I am glad I waited for David. It was absolutely right and has always been right. Even though in the last few years we argue a little between us. We have differences, we bicker slightly but that’s all is the most loving way. Because it doesn’t mean other than we understand each other. And in the last few weeks its come much more clearly to me how much he means to me. And he’s told me likewise — he always does tell me. He always has. It’s been a wonderful life together. I don’t ever want to say goodbye to him because he will always be with me. ”