The Feast of St. Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in many different ways for well over a thousand years. No matter how you may feel about our contemporary version of Valentine’s Day, which tends to center romantic love, this can be a helpful reminder that love and connection are critical to our humanity. Photography has a much shorter history than St. Valentine’s Day, but it has documented all sorts of expressions of love since the 1840s, and we have many wonderful examples in PAM’s permanent collection. I believe that some of the best photographs centering love are those that we make ourselves to share with our families and friends. Have a look through a photo album or your cell phone photos today—you likely have many of your own photographs featuring community and connection. I hope they bring you joy today and remind you that you are loved.
—Julia Dolan, The Minor White Curator of Photography
![Suzanne Opton, Soldier: Jimenez—365 Days in Iraq, Fort Drum, New York, 2005, c-print, 18 x 14 ¼ in. Closely cropped vertical b&w photo of a soldier turned to the viewer’s right while his partner’s head is next to his and both hands tenderly positioning his chin revealing a wedding band.](https://portlandartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Suzanne-Opton.jpg)
![Unknown photographer, Snapshot of Couple Standing in Front of Window, 1960/65, gelatin silver print, 4 ¾ x 2 ¾ in, sepia-toned outdoor vernacular photo of a couple wearing vintage clothes in front of a window. Male figure wears white shirt and dark slacks and holds a cigarette in his right hand, left hand around the shoulder of a woman in a patterned dress. Photographer’s shadow is visible in bottom of frame.](https://portlandartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/unknown-photographer-791x1308.jpg)
Sage Sohier (American, born 1954), Gordon and Jim, with Gordon’s Mother, Margot, San Diego, 1987 (negative); 2014 (print). Pigment print, 15 9/16 × 23 in. The Blue Sky Gallery Collection; Gift of the Artist, 2015.8.1 © Sage Sohier
Suzanne Opton (American, born 1950), Soldier: Jimenez—365 Days in Iraq, Fort Drum, New York, 2005. Chromogenic print, 18 × 14 1/4 in. The Blue Sky Gallery Collection; Gift of James and Susan Winkler, 2007.44.4 © Suzanne Opton
unknown photographer, Untitled (Snapshot of Couple Standing in Front of Window), 1930/1965. Gelatin silver print, image: 4 3/4 × 2 3/4 in. Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2017.26.58