This rich, firey, and even funny collection of images warms our hearts. It's a mix of platonic and romantic gestures, joy, family, vulnerability, and togetherness that reminds us of what's important, and what keeps us going.

▲ A couple embraces during a GHE20G0TH1K party in New York City.
© Nicole Fara Silver

▲ "This photo is part of a photo essay called, Daddy Daycare that portrays the intimate bonds between father and son. It explores the narratives around Black fatherhood and masculinity while showcasing joy and tenderness."
© Ruhamaiah Bradley

▲ "A loving moment captured between a mother and daughter. Here they get ready together for a wedding. Both the color of the room, the grandmother's lipstick, and the family photos give a sense of shared history, memory, and the love of family." © Britta Kokemor

▲ "Inspired by a TedTalk from Brené Brown, Nathalie began to explore what it meant to be vulnerable, alongside recurring themes from her peers she discovered almost everyone is craving the same three things but are usually too afraid to admit it. Trust/loyalty, love, and sex/intimacy." © Nathalie Gordon

▲ "Finding self-love means grieving who I used to be. It means nurturing the past versions of myself, beginning with my inner child. It means tending to and accepting my ever-evolving form." © Amanda Thomas

▲ Bite #1, 2000 © Elinor Carucci

▲ Debbie, 61, and Danny, 66. St. Joseph, MO. 2015 © Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre from their series To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Courtesy of Jess T. Dugan and Clamp, New York.

▲ "The photo is about a passionate and complicated relationship between a guy and a girl." © Anastasiia Marinich

▲ "I invited two friends to have individual portraits outside early on during the pandemic. They had never met before but when I asked them to pose together this is the first thing they did. It speaks to me as an emblem of inherent warmth, humanity, and vulnerability possible among women, even strangers." © Iri Greco

▲ "Serena and Perrin, recently engaged—excitement and anticipation. Serena and I have been friends since preschool, and photographing her engagement was three hours of belly laughs in 90-degree heat." © Annie Bolin

▲ "This image is from a series exploring love in queer relationships. Moments range from tender and intimate to powerful and resilient." © Jillian Abir MacMaster

▲ Cirque Colors, © Mischelle Moy, 2020

▲ Cut Fruit/ Love Language. © Mischelle Moy

▲ "This is from my Odd Couple project exploring how our differences make us stronger units." © Kaylinn Gilstrap

▲ "Made on the occasion of an old friend's engagement." © Stephanie Shih

▲ "This was a portrait commission of an expecting couple, Chandani and James. They were naturally and obviously so sweet and caring of each other, but it took a minute to get comfortable in front of the camera. This was the last look of the shoot, at their most open and vulnerable." © Anjelica Jardiel

▲ Love, 2009. © Elinor Carucci

▲ "I was on my way to deliver these roses to my mom when I stopped to readjust my bag. I looked up to this scene, and what felt like a million stories of love and loss came to mind. I had a fleeting thought to leave the roses there for someone else to dream up a narrative." © Emily Frances Olson

▲ "These images are part of a personal project from last summer featuring my mom and her oldest girlfriends, together at a lake house in upstate NY. The women reunited from across the country coinciding with their 50-year anniversary. These are the women that impacted me as a small child and have the enduring role of being my mother's inner circle." © Iri Greco

▲ "This photo is part of my long-term story "Females, a sicilian story" about all the women of my family in Sicily. It's a tale about the family, the different generations, and above all, deep love." © Ornella Mazzola

▲ "Sisters share a special bond. These two have a daily after-school ritual of hair braiding and homework. " © Angela Ramsey

▲ "This image is from a shoot I did for a young family. The father was living away and this series was from his first time back since he had been away, and the emotion at play from him being with his baby was simply precious. I felt honored to be there." © Karene Isabelle Jean Baptiste

▲ " Dan and Oli, 2020. A spontaneous portrait of my son and his boyfriend, shot on film. Where the simplest of gestures - in this case, lighting one’s cigarette from the other’s - conveyed a mutual affection and trust in an off-guard moment picnicking in a south London park." © Phillippa Bloom

▲ "That day I was walking with my longtime friends in my hometown in Poland. I saw a sign (visible in the photo), which in free translation means: I'm still looking for my fairy tale. That's how this photo came to be. They are together, I am solo. Each of us still looking for our fairy tale...." © Kinga Zgirska

▲ "A street portrait of a couple in Brooklyn." © Josefina Fernandfez Moran

▲ "Originally this work set out to explore the angst and myriad emotions experienced by London-based couples who, as a result of Brexit, have been forced to contemplate separation. With Britain soon to sever its ties with the European Union, tens of thousands of people were to face the possibility of losing their right to work in the UK, not to mention being forced out of the country that they share with their partner. This project took on another layered meaning when the pandemic hit and many saw the images out of context and emotionally connected with the simplicity of how we have been prevented from the essential human touch..." © Laura Pannack

▲ "These are friends of mine who are in love. I love everything about love and as a Black photographer I love being able to show that intimacy and connection between young Black people." © Daniella Almona

▲ "This photo is an expression of my love of California-grown produce. The Sacramento Valley has such a diverse range of fruits and vegetables year-round and these freshly picked pomegranates were such a treat." © Kara Chin

▲ Bite #2, 2001. © Elinor Carucci

▲ A self-portrait on Polaroid film with my lover and husband." © Frances Beatty

▲ "Portrait of Yaryna Herechka in the studio in Berlin." © Maria Louceiro

▲ "A Mother's Love." © Anna Herbst

▲ A mother with her son in Givens Park.Austin, Texas." © Kendall Gilliam

▲ "The end of a weekend connecting, inspiring, and forging new relationships with women motorcyclists from all across Europe at The Petrolettes Festival in Germany. As I walked with the crowd making their way back to camp, I spotted these 2 women in front of me. It was such a simple quiet moment, yet for me, what resonated was the safe, welcoming space that Petrolettes' founder Irene Kotnik was striving for when she rallied the community and created the festival." © Kimberly Maroon

▲ "This photo is an outtake from my current documentary book in progress about senior lesbian couples across the United States. I photographed Gevin and Cathy on Gevin's Indian motorcycle outside of their home in the San Fernando Valley. They have been together for 28 years and have traveled all over the country together on motorcycle expeditions. I met them during the 2019 LA Pride Parade and finally got to reconnect with them last fall." © Morgan Lieberman

▲ "Everyday, parental love - the 'myriad petty, unsexy ways' we show up for each other, as David Foster Wallace would say." © Laura Aziz

▲ "Brianna McCain consoles her daughter Nyla Manning, at their home in Portland, OR. McCain is currently unemployed and has been looking for work since last spring but since her children have been home the whole time, she needs a job that can either offset the cost of daycare for both children or be done from home. © Leah Nash for The New York Times

▲ "A moment of quiet sibling love" © Deborah Barak

▲ "This photo is part of my project Gaze where I explored Black masculinity. It speaks to self-love and being soft with one's self as a revolutionary act of love." © ómo pastor

▲ "There's a certain comfort you get once you're able to be vulnerable with yourself. Self-intimacy is also empowering and embracing all of yourself." © Jocelyn Flores

▲ "This image reflects a chapter of life where I was learning to love myself during a time when I was searching for strength in the wake of rejection, isolation, and uncertainty. This journey led me back to my fundamental relationships; my relationship with my mother and my relationship with myself. I believe that it was this chapter that gave me the footing to move forward with conviction, knowing that I was proud of the woman I was becoming, that I was clear in my vision, and that I was rooted in a foundation of love." © Bailey Roberts

▲ "Víctor is a young man born with a rare genetic disorder called Sotos Syndrome. It is believed that 1 of 10,000 people in the world are affected by this disorder caused by mutations in the NSD1 gene and not inherited from any of the parents. People with this syndrome suffer from a number of conditions, such as gigantism, blindness, intellectual and motor disabilities, hearing loss, severe scoliosis, and cancer....Víctor is considered to have the knowledge skills of a ten year-old-boy. He spends his days inside the house all the time. He is only allowed to go outside if someone is with him. But, when you talk with him, his wiseness can impress you. He never learned how to tie his shoelaces, and yet he learned how to use Facebook like every other millennial of his age. From the outside with all these difficulties, the world of Víctor seems very limited and his future uncertain. When you get to know him you will be surprised by his resilience. Inside his mind, limitations do not exist, and the world is filled with colors, music, and lots of love. In this photo, Víctor and Chacho hug each other outside their house in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Chacho is Victor's father, at the end of 2018, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that let him completely blind. Today is Víctor who helps him readjust to his new life." © Adriana Parrilla

▲ "These photos are part of my ongoing series about intimacy and human connection." © Maria Panina

▲ "Carol and Howard, married for 67 years, in their daughter’s backyard. I had just photographed their four-generation family and thought they deserved their own moment." © Annie Bolin

▲ "Sleeping Lovers was made one Sunday afternoon while walking in Chinatown in New York. The warm afternoon sun had cast an angelic glow on the young couple who appear to have fallen asleep while reading together. It was one of the most peaceful and loving scenes I've come across." © Jessica Chen

▲ "This is a love that my younger self could only dream of. I grew up in an extremely strict and religious foster family and I wasn’t able to embrace my sexuality until my late twenties. Finding a love like this is a part of my story that I never imagined I’d be able to write." © Lucy Garrett

▲ "The shape of love" © Estefania Ramos

▲ "This is my horse Teddy -- my boyfriend, my baby, my therapist, my best friend, my inspiration, my adventure. It's the biggest honor that he lets me lie down with him and cuddle." © Denise Crew

▲ "Sisters Jonita and Kate in their Chicago home. They watch each other's back." © Susan Rosenberg Jones

▲ "My sister and I look after each other a lot: sometimes she carries me, sometimes I carry her. We swim together for mental health at least 3 times a week and this photo of us swimming in Oslo Fjord resonates deeply with our relationship. Makes me a bit teary, to be honest." - Maja Baska

▲ "This image was taken when milo, now my godson, met her mom and she met her son for the very first time." © Celeste Martearena

▲ "Bekah and her daughter Phoebe. This image made me think about how love is about staying calm when you think you can’t, staying afloat when it’s hard, so you can be that place of support for those you love." © Anastasia Sierra

▲ "I met this couple skateboarding in Brighton. Not only did they have a love for one another but also for skateboarding." © Jo Banks

▲ "Candid moments on the dance floor are some of the most natural and authentic ways of showing love and joy that I've found. There's a strong energy there and the key is to not disturb it when taking a photo. This image was taken at the point in the evening when the couple could relax, let it all soak in, and express their love (and relief!) on the dance floor." © Sasha Erwitt

▲ "My mom painting her mom's nails on a hot, humid August afternoon in Seoul, South Korea." © Sarah Keum

▲ "My grandma's morning routine: reading the bible, and praying over every family member, including me and my brothers, found in the images to the right." © Sarah Keum

▲ "These are some of the photos of my daughters collected over these past two years, while we were surviving in an abusive household. We were isolated from the outside world, and the only comfort we could find was in being with each other." © Lisha Zulkepli

▲ "As I grow older, I notice the rituals and habits that grounded my mother during my childhood. Rituals that I now, unconsciously, practice in my own life. On a hot summer afternoon in India, I noticed that both of us were performing the same ritual - napping in the afternoon with oiled hair -- and so, made this image." © Shravy Kav

▲ "I took this picture of my mother and grandmother’s hands because they’re finally reunited after 30 years of living on different continents. Soon after I moved to London, my mother brought my grandmother from Peru to take care of her. (Geneva, Switzerland, 2022)" © Ana Margarita Flores

▲ "Candid moments on the dance floor are some of the most natural and authentic ways of showing love and joy that I've found. There's a strong energy there and the key is to not disturb it when taking a photo. This image was taken at the point in the evening when the couple could relax, let it all soak in, and express their love (and relief!) on the dance floor." © Sasha Erwitt

▲ "Grandparents of our son are showing their nonstop support during their grandson's college graduation party. When our son's name was announced and he crossed the stage, they held each other's hands, which translated their sense of pride and at the same time their commitment to each other in every moment in their life as a great example of love." © Asiya Al Sharabi

▲ "Every summer since my children were small we’ve spent long days cooling off outside the city in an area of lakes and small islands 20 minutes east of Amsterdam. This last summer I knew that those endless days spending time together were not endless at all, the children were growing up and stepping toward their futures. This photograph of my daughter tentatively swimming out into deeper waters, alone, marks that shift.." © Samira Kafala

▲ "Amy and Tristan are two trans women that have found true #transjoy in each other's arms. In a time when trans people are being silenced, murdered, and legislated against, seeing Amy and Tristan's love is more important than ever, and a defiant affirmation of their humanity." © Rose Callahan

▲ "At the end of a long shift, Lisa Ray, a waitress at K’s Cafe, tries to tape up the broken swing door while Kristina, cook, and Jason Meredith, dishwasher, who also live upstairs from the restaurant, clean the kitchen." © Robin Michals

▲ "Taken a few weeks after my partner's surgery. We fell in love while I was helping them recover. It has almost been a year since we've been together and I still try my best to hold and protect them with the same tenderness." © Olivia Harris