For nearly three years I have been obsessively collecting graffiti lovehearts and the contexts in which I find them. I'm still going. I'll probably be doing this for as long as I can hold a camera. View the new blog at www.love-landscape.co.uk or the slideshow at http://ddm1.co.uk/love_landscape/.

I've photographed urban hearts, coastal hearts, hearts carved into the bark of trees, hearts in stone, hearts in sand, hearts in spraypaint, marker pen and biro. I've photographed in the UK, France and Italy, and intend to travel further. I've photographed in beautiful places, hidden places, fascinating places and places where the smell of urban life is almost overwhelming.

Here's what I do: sometimes I go out looking for hearts, but mostly I just can't help finding them.
I take a usually very straight photograph of the heart, and then the challenge is to make an accompanying image within sight of the heart that gives the viewer a sense of the place where the heart was found, and hopefully something more.

I am a zen photographer - I focus on the moment and on the place I am in. I empty my mind of the clutter of photographic knowledge and simply photograph. It doesn't always work, but it almost always does, and I usually find I have a landscape that works both as an independent image and will balance the heart when I join the two together.

I don't edit, I don't crop and I don't manipulate the images. I just join the two together and they tell their story. Whenever I show the images I get positive and enthusiastic responses, and different images appeal to different viewers - sometimes in surprising ways, depending often on their relationship to contemporary photography as well as to love itself.

While some images are obviously romantic in their associations (The Grand Canal in Venice, a beechwood in summer) there is a darkness to many, which to me refer to the joy & pain of teenage relationships (hearts crossed through, names changed, hearts scrawled in dank places in haste) and a grittiness which is easily missed without the time to really look. Which is probably a good thing when selling to the general public.

And I'm frequently asked 'Is there going to be a book?'

My intention here is to sell you the idea of a book. I think that people ask me for one because of the quantity of images in the portfolio, which takes time to glance over. And the need to look deeply into some of the landscapes means that the images are often best studied, smaller, on a more personal scale, rather than seen on a wall.

It also appeals to the romantic in everyone - my print sales are often to people who relate the sense of place in the landscape to a romantic episode in their own lives, or to the idea of romance and the landscape that they see alongside the heart they are choosing. People are entertained, amused, perplexed, left thoughtful. At the exhibitions, at least. I'm certain that a book would provoke the same reactions. And there are over 300 images to choose from.

These are much more than just pictures of graffiti, more than just a document of somebody else's creation. These are serious photographs, and I am a serious photographer - I don't photograph lightly. But people get a surface pleasure from these pictures when they want to, and a depth when they choose to look. I like that about them.

I envisage the book as something someone might buy for a loved one, as a Valentine's gift, or for an anniversary or a for a friends wedding, or that someone might buy as an art object, to fulfill an interest in contemporary photography, street art, lovehearts or landscape. It would cover a lot of bases.

I've been working with book designer Louise Leffler to create some sample layouts, to give a visual idea of how a book could look - click here to view a pdf of some sample page layouts and here for some sample jackets. My intention, longer term, is to produce a series of books: an initial love | landscape book containing some of what I already have, followed by sets from major cities - Paris, Venice, New York, etc. Ambitious, I know, but why not?

I've put this here because I know that a book would work - I just need to convince you of that. I'm happy to talk about the project, on the phone or in person, or email me if you have any suggestions, advice or would like me to call you. Equally, if you are a gallery owner and would like to discuss showing this work, please get in touch.

There is a blog at www.love-landscape.co.uk if you'd like to see more images and a slideshow at http://ddm1.co.uk/love_landscape/. To buy prints, please email me.

Paul Angel - 11 Exeter Road - Swanage - Dorset - BH19 2BL - Tel: 01929 421080 - paul@paulangel.co.uk