After a recent visit to London’s Tate Modern art gallery, I took the walk across the Millennium Bridge towards St Paul’s Cathedral.

It wasn’t the views across the Thames or swarms of tourists that caught my eye, but a number of little metal objects dangling from the cables of the bridge.

Padlocks. Locked up and left to their fate, many of them carrying messages of love and probably youthful union. Lovelocks.

I haven’t seen them in London before, although in other places around the world they’re commonplace. The Pont des Arts in Paris is groaning under the weight of thousands of locks, prompting a campaign to ban the practice.

There are just a handful on this bridge, little tokens of unbreakable relationships which are probably forgotten soon after they’ve been fixed to the spot.

Vandalism or litter they might be, but small human moments that are a pleasure to capture.

Click first image to launch the gallery