‘My Happy Photo’: The Pictures That Make You Happy

Throughout 2020, we’re encouraging everyone to take some time to reflect on special moments and memories that bring us joy. Our Pause For A Moment campaign has already seen us conducting research into the British public’s relationship with photos and getting some of our favourite bloggers looking back through their camera roll, so we decided that our next step should involve you – the nation! Here’s where our My Happy Photo contest came into play.

At a time when things are a little trickier for us all, we set ourselves the mission of spreading joy by getting everyone up and down the country to take a moment to themselves, look through their photos and pick one out that makes them happy. We asked everyone to share their ‘happy photo’ to their Instagram story and nominate a friend to do the same, with the aim of sharing those feelings of joy far and wide. But, what it is about photos that brings us happiness?

The science behind the smiles

In our recent interview with behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings, we heard about how looking back at old photos featuring special memories can evoke feelings of positivity. The ‘emotional bubble’ that is created from reminiscing over moments we’ve enjoyed stimulates production of oxytocin and dopamine, feel-good hormones essential for the brain’s reward centre, contributing to our positive mental wellbeing. With this in mind, we set you off with the challenge to scroll back through those camera rolls and get posting to Instagram!

We’re thrilled to share with you the five winning images from the contest – we hope they make you smile, too!

A new member of the family?

We couldn’t help but giggle at this family photo snapped by Pamela (@pammi_mcl) featuring an especially fluffy addition to the gang! After all, there’s nothing quite like a friendly alpaca to lift the spirits.

Childhood friends

Our next photo comes from Gina (@tale_of_a_terrace) who captured this beautiful shot of her little girl playing outside with a friend some time ago. We, like Gina, hope special moments like these will soon be a reality once again!

A breath of nature

We fell in love with this photo snapped by Chris (@photo_cj) thanks to its stunning colours and composition. Observing and admiring nature is a wonderful mood-booster and this little ladybird is a beautiful reminder that small moments of joy can be found all around us.

Siblings sharing a moment

Parents will know just how rare those precious moments are where both children are happily occupied and reading to themselves! This snapshot from Hana (@rainbomino) is the picture of sibling love as her two children share a hammock together in the sunshine.

Father and daughter

Not only did Karen (@karmakazz) and her dad share this meaningful moment which was captured on camera, they also share some very snazzy matching jumpers! Captioned ‘when I was able to hug my dad’, this photo made us feel warm and nostalgic, capturing the flurry of emotions we’re all experiencing in these strange and difficult times.

A book full of memories

Each of our winners will be the lucky recipient of a CEWE PHOTOBOOK full of their special moments and memories. Whether you would like to document a holiday or special trip, relive an occasion or simply collate photos of you and a loved one as a special gift, a photo book has the power to bring those images to life in a keepsake for you to treasure forever. If you would like to create one of your own, you can get to know more about our award-winning CEWE PHOTOBOOK and discover some design inspiration here.

Want to get involved?

Although our My Happy Photo contest has now closed, our mission to get the nation reminiscing over their favourite photos continues! Read more about our Pause For a Moment campaign, see how others have been sharing their memories and find out how you can get involved too.

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us over social media! We’ll be sharing our favourite inspiration and ideas as well as your creations – get involved on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.