The secret of the hippie generation: how a couple who have lived together for 50 years became a symbol of free love

Bobby and Nick has never been a hippie, they are still together and will soon celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. But a series of accidents led to the fact that it was they who were destined to get into the lens of Burke Uzzl and become the personification of the times of free morals.

On August 15, 1969, Nick was standing at a bar in New York, and his girlfriend Bobbi was sitting on a stool, sipping beer and listening to the news on the radio. Over the past 30 days, the Apollo 11 astronauts have planted a flag on the moon, and the family of Charles Manson has killed eight people in Los Angeles.

But this Friday, something else was told in the news — a three-day hippie festival "Woodstock"was planned. An incredible event on its scale, but news agencies intimidated Americans with huge traffic jams, a 500-thousand crowd and generally recommended not to go there.

Nick and Bobby were 20 years old, and they, of course, decided that they absolutely had to go to "Woodstock" — when else will it be possible to see something like this?

On the same day, photographer Burke Uzzl, a member of the elite Magnum photography agency, left Manhattan with his wife and two sons for a camp on the Neversink River, filled with trout. Before that, Uzzl rejected the editors 'offer to go to shoot "Woodstock" — he hated working on assignments, because the editor never asked him to shoot something that was really interesting.

But soon the photographer still went to the festival as a private person. And he shot everything that he likes.

On Saturday morning, Nick and Bobby went with their friends to the festival and really got into a huge traffic jam. Leaving the car, they set off on foot, and on the way picked up the same blanket that got into the photo.

On Sunday morning, Uzzl armed himself with two "Watering Cans" and went for a walk through the expanses of the festival in search of something interesting.

One evening in 1970, Bobby's friend and Nick brought a newly released album with the soundtracks of "Woodstock". The cover depicted a huge hill strewn with sleepy bodies, in the center stood a couple hugging — the guys looked happy. First, Nick and Bobby saw a bright yellow butterfly of a friend who was also in the picture-he was lying to the right of the couple. And only after that they realized who was in the center of the composition.

After the first shock, young people forgot about the photo and remembered it only 20 years later, when Life became interested in the history of the picture.

Bobby and Nick got married 2 years after that festival, soon they will celebrate the golden wedding. They have two adult sons and a small granddaughter. Nick spent most of his life working as a carpenter and construction inspector, and Bobby worked as a school nurse. The legendary photo hangs above their dining table at home. But the most important thing is that they are still in love.

Photographer Uzzl is now 79 years old, he lives in his native North Carolina and continues to shoot. His works are represented in galleries around the world.

It's okay that the hippies in the photo were not real. The main thing is that the feelings on them are the most real, and love can not disappoint even the most severe skeptics.