Kissing seals, a romantic sunset and a bird giving its owner a playful bite: Photographers capture incredible images to show what love means to them
- More than 11,800 images with a love theme were submitted to a photography contest run by photo app Agora
- They have been whittled down to a shortlist of 50 and the public is being asked to vote for its favourite
- The pictures include a mother and her child laughing in the rain and a tender image of two dogs embracing
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They say that love is all around.
And these amazing pictures prove that it really is.
They have been shortlisted from 11,823 entries to a photography contest run by photo app Agora, which asked photographers to capture what love means to them.
The images range from a sweet shot of two seals sharing a kiss in Namibia to a heartwarming image of a mother and her son sheltering from the rain in India and a cute shot of a boy getting a playful bite on the nose by his pet parakeet.
The public has until February 18 to vote for their favourite out of the 50 shortlisted pictures. The winner will be crowned as having shot the ‘best photo in the world of #Love2020’ and will claim a prize of $1,000 (£768).
Scroll down to see some of the shortlisted entries and prepare to have your heart melted…
Photographer @anskar, from Germany, captured this sweet snap of two brown fur seals sharing a kiss in Namibia. He said: ‘There are hundreds of thousands of seals in this area, which of course comes with a certain smell and noise!’
British photographer Carl Brightman was setting up to take a landscape shot of the Dorset coast when he spotted a couple admiring the view out to sea. He said: ‘I was positioning my drone and waiting for the light to change when the young couple walked into the shot and stood to face the sea, admiring the view. It beautifully shows human emotion and adds scale’
Indian photographer @jayeshvijuda captured this tender moment of a mother and her child trying to keep dry in a downpour in Chhota Udaipur, India. He said: ‘It started raining as I was heading home, at that moment I spotted a mother and her child trying to stay dry under a plastic blanket. They warmed my heart’
A parakeet gives a little boy a playful bite on the nose in an image Indian photographer @pranab_basak calls ‘Love Bite’. Pranab captured the shot in West Bengal, India. He said: ‘During the summer storm season in the rural area of Bengal, parakeet nests often get destroyed. This baby parakeet was rescued by this rural kid who takes care of it with so much love and kindness’
This moving image, left, was shot by German snapper @a.rosenthal in Cologne Zoo. He said: ‘The mother kept drawing the infant close to herself, taking care of it with all her love. The little one was very playful and just like us humans, it tried to free itself from the clasp of its mother again and again to explore the world alone.’ Pictured right are photographer @Mondscheinfotografie’s dogs posing for the camera in Dusseldorf, Germany. She said: ‘My two Australian shepherds happily struck a pose for me! These two are best friends who always go paw-in-paw’
This heart-warming image was snapped by Indonesian photographer @georock888 on Samosir Island in Indonesia. He explained: ‘I visited an area, which is quite famous for its Ulos handwoven textile fabrics. The craftswoman’s grandson hugged her from behind, and she welcomed him with a happy smile. This is what true love looks like to me’
This image by @dikyedarling, snapped in Indonesia, is called ‘bird kiss’. The Indonesian photographer said: ‘It is true what they say, love is all around us’
French photographer @florianbrioude snapped this image, left, of a couple kissing on colourful steps in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Pictured right is a sweet image of a mother and her baby looking out of the window during a train journey in Bangladesh. It was captured by @Hedayet1000. He said: ‘They were enjoying the view from the window with absolute joy, playing and laughing together in their very own bubble’
Turkish photographer @fdilekuyar captured this shot of a woman embracing a goat in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. She said: ‘When you love someone, you get rid of all the chaos that surrounds you and focus only on that special feeling. It was so hard to take this photo because goats don’t really abide by photographers when it comes to striking a pose’
Italian photographer @lucacornago captured this romantic shot of Lake Como with his drone. It features him and his wife enjoying the sunset. He explained: ‘This photo brings back a sweet memory and makes me think of how important love is. I am sure that if you are in love with the right person, life is amazing and you can enjoy even more the world that surrounds you in better ways. I call this magic love eyes. Love changes how you see the world’