Heartlocks, Love locks, but they are all padlocks. I do like to photograph heartlocks. They are the emotions of people having at that time. Expressions of love, eternity, promises of forever and ever and more.  I have shot a lot heartlock photos but I never got it right to my feeling. I mean, i never got it right in visualising that expression.  Should it be in black and white or in color ? Hard and deep dark contrasts or bright colors ? Very shallow depth of field or just a close up ?  

When i was walking in Florence Italy on an early morning I saw tons of locks. Mostly at the Ponte Vecchio but also on nearly all the road leading to Ponte Vecchio. Quite a nice scenery 🙂 Imagine how many people made promises to eachother. 

“…. where you promised me “I love you forever and ever”, “Where i told you ‘I will never leave you “, Where love seems endless in an unknown country we’ve never been before, where we had a great time, Where you looked so sweet i could taste it, Where break ups take place not long after….. “

I see them mostly on bridges with nice views, but also on crossings over railroads or on fences in parks. Places where people hang out, meet eachother, pass by or just be there because they love the place.  But there are some rare places. The photo below is taken from the Bungy Jump tower in Scheveningen Beach the Netherlands. 

But why ? It’s symbolic I know. And symbolism gives a meaning to people. People feel good at that moment, they want to express their love, their devotion to another. And at that specific moment, with that feeling, people start to tell eachother things. Making promises they can’t keep, telling things they should not tell.  And, yes, I ‘ve done it myself too and yes I broke a heart and yes mine got broken too. 

Right now there are bridges (I think its in Paris) where it is prohibited to put more heartlocks/love locks/padlocks on the bridge. Because of the weight. Pont des Arts in Paris has over 1 million padlocks (as love locks, heartlocks) attached to the bridge weighting over 45 tonnes. So please keep it to the words: ‘I love you forever and ever’ and don’t put another padlock on it 🙂

I keep shooting these heartlocks wherever I see them. I always felt good doing so. And I keep trying to get that emotion in the image. Below some more shots, have fun 🙂