The photos started to come in fast. And what an amazing collection it is.

A few from wedding days showed that all our emotion for people we love crystallises into something solid on those important days.

There were favourite pics where people forgot their usual photographic smiles and let out beams of absolute happiness. Sometimes our love is for the moment we remember and not the actual photo.

But the one that really kicks it home is the photograph in which there are no faces - just two hands.

Nina Jordan says her father died just three months ago and it is this photo that speaks to her.

Our connection with our fathers is about more than Christmas, our wedding day, and those things that might happen once in a lifetime.

It is about the everyday. It is about growing up under the gaze of someone who prizes his family above everything else. It is about a baby’s head sleeping heavily in the crook of a father’s arm and a hug after an argument.

It is about watching the absolute love in your father’s eyes as he watches his grandchildren playing.

Our dads only come along once in our lives. Maybe they’re not perfect, but sometimes, to us, they are.

Dad laughs with you – and sometimes at you – and Dad tries to hide the emotion – sometimes too successfully.

Dads are special. Together with mums, they can be the most special people on earth. They are certainly doing the most important job.

As the beautiful photo of two hands shows, dads won’t be here forever.

If you’re lucky enough to have one of these dads, Sunday is the time to let him know.

Happy Father’s Day, and take a look at some special dads on pages 16 and 17.