Courtesy of Soulpancake.com an Article by Lindsay McComb

But passion is pretty much the only part of love and romance that London-born photographerChris Craymer focuses on in his recently published book, Romance: A Beautiful Look Book On Love. Romance features pictures of strikingly beautiful, real-life couples engaged in the physical act of love. Craymer says that Romance is “essentially emotional.” I’m not sold. While some of the photos have passionate, bright, even smoldering compositions, the real problem is that Romance seems to focus on sex, not love.

“Romance, for me, was the perfect vehicle to make pictures which can covey a number of emotions,” Craymer said. “I wanted to try to make pictures which could be, for example, sexy, funny, joyful and also powerful and even soulful.”

He told Vogue.com that romance is about new love. “It’s the kind of love before you have any other commitments or baggage like a mortgage, children, past relationships, divorces, maybe even careers,” he said. “It’s the kind of relationships you might have in your first year of college, but it’s very intense, nevertheless.”

While passion and a little bowchickabowwow are a big part of romance, it’s not enough for real, lasting love, in my opinion. I think there was a lot more that could have been incorporated into defining romance. And I’m not talking about clichés such as flowers and dinner out on the town.

Bottom line: I’m not sure sure Craymer’s take on love tells the whole story.

How would you define romance?

:: romance pondered by Lindsay McComb