'Lovers on film' (2020-ongoing) is a curated photographic series by photographer Jack Gunn. The series consists of thousands of images submitted from over 100 countries exploring intimacy, tenderness, and the quiet, often unseen moments of romantic relationships. The work centres on couples photographed on analogue film, usually in private or domestic spaces, focusing on closeness, vulnerability, and the small gestures that define being in love.
Analogue photography is fundamental to the project. Working with film introduces slowness, limitation, and uncertainty into the process, qualities that mirror the emotional landscape of intimate relationships themselves. Each photograph exists as a physical object, shaped by time, chance, and care, resisting the immediacy and disposability of digital images. In a post-AI world, the project feels even more important. These images exist as records of something that genuinely happened, preserving the love as lived rather than imagined.
Couples submit their own photographs, resulting in contributions from people in over 100 countries. This open submission model creates a collective global portrait of love that is both deeply personal and quietly universal. Rather than idealising romance, the project is interested in honesty and presence. The project exists somewhere between documentary and portraiture, less concerned with spectacle than with attention, care, and looking slowly.
The project was created in London during the summer of 2020's Covid Lockdown, by Jack Gunn and Ance Priedniece (2020-2024), the project is ongoing with a plan to make a book and exhibitions.
(featured photograph, wei and cam, 2024)
Press:
Submission for the project lvrsonfilm@gmail.com
Enquiries contact@jackgunn.co.uk
