STOP. BREATHE.

Before you embark on the rest of this blog, I would like you to do those two things for me.

It’s amazing how busy life gets. Soon you’ll be married, and maybe you’ll go on to start a family. You’ll move into a new house, raise your kids, manage your careers and through all of that, we often end up forgetting what really matters.

Friends. Family. Love. Experiences. Memories.

Five simple things, but they all truly matter to each of us; experiences and memories with those that we care about most. These memories, and the photographs containing, them are the artwork of our lives.

Yet when was the last time that we actually printed these works of art? The best parts of our lives are lost in the digital world. Whether professionally or on our own, the images that we capture are being shown online to garner a few seconds of social media attention, then they are buried on our hard drives.

Think about it.  Think about all of those images on your phone, or in that folder on your computer.  When was the last time you sat down and looked through all of the moments that you thought deserved to be captured?  And that’s assuming your hard drive is still in good working order.  If it fails, your favourite moments are gone forever.

Imagine paying for some amazing photographs of you and your favourite people at your wedding, but then not having anything to show for it other than a few hundred digital files on your phone.  It’s almost like stopping now, despite the fact that there is only got half a mile to go on this marathon.

The memories of our lives belong in print. Prints that are repeatedly enjoyed each and every day, not just because photos make amazing decor, but because these works of art represent your lives.

Imagine how you might look at your loved one a little differently if you woke up to see an image of their smile and laugh on the walls in front of your bed. Imagine how a child might grow up with a different sense of self-worth when they are surrounded by loving images of their family within their home.

This is the ‘Why’ behind what I do and every day, I stop and I breathe so I can think about what matters most.

All of my clients get their own password protected online gallery where they can download off of their photos.  That gallery is also a shop where you can buy your prints, but you don’t have to use that – you can print your photos wherever you want!  So buy the album. Order the canvases. Choose some frames that’ll look great on the fireplace. Take a USB stick to Boots, print a load of photos and glue them onto an A4 pad of plain paper.

Whatever method you choose, just get those photos printed, because photographs and memories are the artwork of life, and life belongs in print.