Select stills from Hello, I Love You, a photobook by @derekridgers. Never sought out as a project, these images are drawn from a small portion of his archive, capturing moments of kissing and cuddling Derek kept encountering and instinctively photographing. “Much of the great, really important photography one sees in 2025 has to do with the absolute horror of simply surviving in the modern World - wars, famine, poverty. But hopefully there can still be a small place in photography for life’s less significant moments too. I never set out to photograph kissing couples but if I ever saw it happening - and clearly, I often did - I couldn’t really stop myself. As to the why, I’m not so sure. I’ve always thought kissing couples were quite photogenic, especially if you can see their facial expressions. And I’d be lying if I said that the famous Robert Doisneau photograph wasn’t a part of my inspiration. But in my case, none of the images were ever set up. But in truth, not many of the photographs in my book were genuinely candid anyway. The majority of the couples I photographed knew I was there and they just ignored me. Working with flash in a dark nightclub is certainly going to get you noticed. With a few of the couples in the book, I knew them and I’d met them before. But the vast majority, I only ever saw them that once and had no idea who they were. I knew nothing at all about them. But kissing and cuddling is quite a universal thing. I think that’s what’s so nice about it. I don’t know anyone’s specific story but I really don’t think I need to. The story can take place in the imagination of the viewer.” | Milk Studios