Flashback Friday Remembers Braden Summers’s “All Love Is Equal”

July 5, 2024
HANK ORSO

Braden Summers's "All Love Is Equal"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Braden Summers Image + Motion (@bradensummers)

It was ten years ago when photographer Braden Summers launched his "All Love Is Equal" campaign, an effort to use his incredible talent as a photographer to display the romantic side of same-sex love and relationships as witnessed by couples around the world. As reported in The Advocate, Summers was urged by his then BF, now husband, to turn his camera away from his romantic images of straight couple clients and apply the same creative eye to his own community. And we've been loving the images ever since!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Braden Summers Image + Motion (@bradensummers)

The first image, of two men holding hands on London Bridge, was created in 2012. He said the overwhelming positive response was proof enough that he needed to expand the idea and turn this into a full-fledged pictorial project with a world view. The "All Love Is Equal" campaign was born, with high gloss and enduring images. Fourteen initial photographs were made public on Valentine's Day, 2014, on The Advocate/Out Magazine sites and Buzzfeed. Says Summers in The Advocate:

Ultimately I felt honored to give same-sex romance an elevated platform, seen by millions, created with the same sense of style and beauty standards we have seen in luxury advertising for decades.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Braden Summers Image + Motion (@bradensummers)

Then his "luxury advertising" style became actual advertising! A month after that initial launch, Marriott International was in contact asking Summers if he could continue the shoots on Marriott properties around the world. And thus the "Love Travels" advertising campaign was born, going on to include couple of all types and backgrounds, and earning advertising awards to boot.

The campaign spread, going beyond the LGBTQ+ community to illustrate love, romance, and family among various other minority groups. The corporate backing of a personal series was the ultimate validation knowing my original intention was to inspire large brands to include same sex couples in their mainstream campaigns.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Braden Summers Image + Motion (@bradensummers)

Ten years on, in 2024, I am reflecting on the meaning of that work. On one hand, showing a same-sex couple in an ad campaign will no longer feed any news cycles as it may have in 2014, and I feel proud to have played whatever role I had in changing that narrative. On the other, we see a majority of brands pull back on their pride campaigns this year after the backlash from the political right and their rage that companies like Bud Light are sponsoring transgender voices like Dylan Mulvaney. There is more work to be done.