To Print or Not to Print, What Would You Choose for Your Photographs?

I'm a romantic, I love to breathe deeply when I put on a pot of coffee in the morning, the softness of my favourite jumper, and the feel of old books that have been well thumbed. I still love to print my favourite photographs and have them around my home; it's amazing how photographs can take you back to a moment, a feeling, a time so perfectly.

Everything you were experiencing, all your emotions, even a scent you remember and the music you were listening to at the time, it all comes rushing back in an instant. That's why I love to have photographs of those great memories around me, in a heartbeat I can transport myself to some of the happiest moments I've ever experienced.

Want to know a little bit about these photographs? They're a couple of my favourites from the last few years.

This photograph is of the front of our motorhome (sadly we had to leave her in Canada). We named her Winnie, and despite being 38 years old when we bought her she took us everywhere and (almost) never missed a beat! The day before I took this photograph we travelled over to one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of Vancouver Island, and at night we had found a quiet nook to camp up for the night. When we woke it was the coldest we had been so far, the inside of our windows were covered in frost, it was somewhere close to -10.

It took all my willpower to get out of my sleeping bag and face the cold but when I stepped outside the smell of frost and pine trees and the warmth of the morning rays on my face felt wonderful. I snapped this photo before the sun could melt the frosty covering on the van and hopped back inside to make coffee.

The top picture was taken on a very early morning ferry crossing from Islay to mainland Scotland, we dragged ourselves out of our sleeping bags in the dark, packed the tent into the car and left the beautiful beach we had been camping on before the sun even reached the horizon. I sat at the ferry terminal feeling very groggy from lack of sleep but as soon as we got onboard we did what we love to do - go out on deck and watch the scenery as we depart. Just as the engines started to churn up the water the sun poked out from behind the hills. The crisp morning air and incredible view were life to my lungs and sleepy mind, suddenly I was full of beans!

A photograph can give us so much more than just a visual reminder of that split second we're capturing.