What is love?
As a photographer who creates Love Stories for couples, I will say this: love is made of little things and grand events. It hides in evening strolls and journeys to the ends of the earth, in fleeting touches and passionate kisses, in carefree mischief and support. Love lives in bustling cities and quiet villages, in green meadows and towering mountains, in the wind and the sun, in sunsets and sunrises. And also—in millions of small details that come together to form one great, beautiful feeling. My task is to capture these moments and tell love stories through photography.
But if I were to set my camera aside for a moment and become a storyteller, I would share with you the touching story of Kim Grove—a girl from a small town in New Zealand. Kim imagined situations that might happen to couples in love and drew them on paper napkins. She gifted these drawings to her beloved Roberto, who later became her husband. Each drawing was accompanied by a short phrase that began with the words: Love is… …when you both greet the spring, …when he doesn’t ask the price of her new dress, …when his photo sits on your desk, and your love lives in his heart, …when she rushes home knowing her beloved is waiting, …when they drink from two straws in one glass, …when they hear each other’s heartbeat, …when he wants to dance only with you, …when you share the bathroom mirror, …when you realize that the morning would not be as beautiful without him. “I drew to express my feelings, ” Kim said. “It was like an emotional diary. The first thing I drew was a drop that turned into a girl, and then another drop became a boy. He was the reason for all these feelings.” When Kim and Roberto became husband and wife, he found her drawings and decided to surprise her by publishing them as a book. Over the course of three years, so many sketches accumulated that by January 1970, a full book was published. Suddenly, the book became popular: it was translated into many languages, and the illustrations began appearing on clothes, postcards, and even mugs. Six years later, English artist Bill Espri continued Kim’s work, adding color and new details to her romantic stories. In the 1990s, the Turkish company Dandy acquired the rights to publish the drawings on gum wrappers.
If we look at love from a scientific perspective, we can recall Sternberg’s triangle. According to this theory, true love consists of three components: intimacy, passion, and commitment. When they come together, the perfect feeling is born. But of course, this is just one hypothesis. Love remains a mystery that logic cannot solve. For me, as a photographer, love is a chance to capture a miracle. Thanks to experience and intuition, I catch its moments and preserve them for you for many years to come.
♡ Love and be loved! ♡