Despite the UK lockdown hundreds of thousands of Londoners have flocked online to support the ‘Love in London’ photography competition, with a beautiful photo of a proposal at London Pride 2019 being voted the winner.

This is the second year running where Londoners have shown their support and love for the LGBTQ+ community in the Love In London competition. The winning photo this year also represents the spirit of happier times and celebrations that Londoners cannot wait to return to whilst also capturing the city’s incredible diversity and belief in love.

Launched in 2018 the competition aims to display Londoners during magical, moving and loving moments whilst also raising money for leading relationships charity Relate. It may be that the difficult times of this year have given Londoners extra time to consider just how amazing our city is, regardless the campaign has captured the public’s imagination with hundreds of thousands coming to visit and support the campaign.

The competition’s 6 photography categories – including Love London, Love Your Partner, Love Your Animals, Love Your Friends, Love Your Community and Love What You Do – and video category brought out the best in the capital’s creatives. The winning image, Jamie Thistlethwaite’s ‘Proposal at London Pride 2019, was voted for by the public as well as chosen by a panel of judges for its beautiful image of a genuine moment from an incredibly iconic setting.

On his winning photo the London based photographer and filmmaker had this to say:

“I wanted to be involved in Love In London because the idea of a competition showcasing all the forms of love around the city meant the world to me, especially in the current situation of the pandemic. My image summed up everything I love about photographing Prides; it’s everyone coming together & forgetting about our differences to show & spread love. I feel that the image has an even stronger message now that unfortunately most Prides have been postponed. I hope that my image stands as a beacon of hope to everyone in our LGBTQ+ community & our allies that the day will come when we will be able to celebrate & show our love together again.”

There has been an outpouring of support for the campaign reflected through the thousands of moving, and truly inspiring, entries submitted helping raise thousands of pounds for Relate through donations in the process. However, it is not just photographers who have shown their support. The competition’s partners and sponsors, including Time Out, Nikon and Affinity, have gifted over £5000 worth of prizes to the overall winner and category winners.

On the competition Aidan Jones, Chief Executive at relationships charity, Relate said:

“We’ve been so impressed by the Love In London entries which brilliantly convey how relationships are the beating heart of our lives – in good times and in more challenging ones. The winning photo captures the colourful celebration of diversity that takes place each year at Pride in London, alongside a beautiful celebration of love and commitment between two people as they embark on a shared life together – a well-deserved winner. We want to say a big thank you to Love In London for choosing to Relate as their charity partner and to everyone who entered and donated to us. The money raised will go towards helping us support the nation’s relationships, through lockdown and beyond.”

Following the ending of the Love In London competition the organisers, the CLIKD dating app whose mission is to promote love in all its forms, have now launched its latest campaign ‘Love In Lockdown’ which it is looking for the best photography taken through the UK’s lockdown.