We are surrounded by love — the fierce emotion that consumes us as it expands our hearts and enables us to overcome the worst and savor the wondrous. Love is the nectar that inspires us as poets and parents, companions and neighbors, siblings and citizens. It is a depth of sentiment that defines us and shapes our humanity, a river connecting the nostalgia of the old with the dreams of youth. It is the most profound, powerful, and encompassing force in life.

In this stunning photographic collection, 100 photographers, including a number of Pulitzer Prize winners, bring to light this profound feeling through photographs from the M.I.L.K. Collection: Moments of Intimacy, Laughter, and Kinship — one of the most ambitious photographic competitions ever staged. Here is love in all its facets: the adoration of a girl as she gazes into her father's eyes; the passion of young lovers kissing beside a fountain; the attachment of a boy to his dog; the contentment of a family asleep at the beach; the devotion of an elderly wife reading to her husband from a book written in Braille; the tenderness of a little sister embracing her big brother; the affection of two entwined fingers.

The M.I.L.K. project was conceived to revere what it is to love and be loved. Within the pages of these glorious photographs, you will witness the best that is in all of us, our bountiful capacity for love.