With the recession still a concern for most of us, I have been thinking up creative ideas for my Christmas gifts this year. I really do not want to spend a huge amount of money like I do every year, come January my empty bank account is in the red and I have lost all of that Christmas spirit.

My boyfriend took me to Paris recently, where I had the time of my life. I was completely spoilt and the whole experience was very much the romantic thing we have ever done together.

Recently I went on the best holiday of my entire life, on safari. The whole experience was so incredible that I had to document all of it with a new flash digital camera that I purchased especially. I took so many photos of my favourite animals it was amazing! But as my partner pointed out, much like many of my digital photos, they never make it past the computer.

Many people these days loving taking pictures, the standard of the digital camera recently has become so high that many people also own great cameras. I don’t know if you are anything like me, but if you are then you will have many photos that have been uploaded onto your computer but never seen the light of day again?

I recently went for a big clear out through my attic and found many old photos from my youth and in particular my school years. It definitely left me with a smile on my face as I remembered faces and memories I hadn’t recalled in years.

Photography only became mainstream around 50 years ago, and before that any families that were fortunate enough to be able to afford the services of a photographer were the only ones who would have a photo album in the house. Now everyone owns a camera, but has the nature of the highly treasured album been retained, or have digital photo books created something new entirely?

Recently there have been loads of reports of meteors that have been spotted across the world; night photography is often something some people may not consider doing.

It was only until I brought myself a digital camera that photo books became any use to me, I had managed to fill my computer with masses of snaps and shots from my camera, but they weren’t being printed.

‘Photography’ is derived from the Greek meaning ‘light’ and ‘to draw’; the word was first used by a scientist called Sir John F. W Herschel in 1839.

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