another year over...

​2017 started for us on the 19th floor of the Hilton Hotel in Manchester – lazily watching the fireworks in our PJs drinking champagne and eating sausage rolls. As it reaches its last hours I’m sure we’re not unusual in looking back on a year which has had extremes of sadness, worry, great excitement but above all gratitude that we’re still here and still have each other.
The face you show the world through blogs and Instagram posts probably doesn’t fully reflect the life you are actually living – as photographers we choose to show what we consider our best work and isn’t a blog the same?
Our year has probably been much the same as most other people’s bobbing along in the ‘we’re ok’ middle road of life with occasional rapid descents to extreme happiness and the times when you fall of the cliff and plunge into sadness and despair. The constant negativity from the ‘media’ adds to personal worries and sometimes makes life unbearable for many people – fake news, scare stories - it feels like we are living in a rapidly darkening cloud. Is it possible to find that spark of positivity?
Social media comes in for much criticism, and rightly so at times, but what we have personally experienced in the Instagram community has opened our eyes to the friendship, encouragement and positivity that exists in this world. In amongst our 2000 plus followers we are blessed to have new found digital friends from around the world supporting and encouraging us with our burgeoning photography hobby. Friends who live close, but we have never met- friends in other countries living culturally different lives to us – friends who make us laugh and friends offering positive comments and great support. Fellow Instagrammers who inspire us to try different photography techniques and even experiment with food. Thanks to @grandad1912 we now make the best roast potatoes (the secret's in the polenta - sshhhh!) and Cleveland's @princess_wendyk inspired us to produce our very first calendar! We are anxiously awaiting her thoughts on it - as well as anxiously trusting our postal service...
We don’t choose our photographs to count the likes we receive – our gallery is a record of our photographic journey and something for us to look at on our darker days. We try to show the best parts of our little corner of the world and celebrate the North West of England and beyond.
So, as we say goodbye to 2017, here is a big thank you to everyone in our new little community and here’s to 2018. (And - just for all the people who constantly ask – yes, the photos are definitely ours and not just Chris’)