One of the reasons I love Instagram so much is that it makes it super easy to upload photos that are closer to what I saw when I was inspired to take a photo than what the camera was able to capture in raw data.

Sure, the iPhone camera quality is pretty rubbish and it is in no way a substitute for my beautiful Lumix GF1, but it not only captures the moment and the mood, but makes it easy to share the moment, before the moment is lost.

I spent a couple of weeks in Crete at the end of August/Beginning of September last year. It involved rather more relaxing than I planned (I got flu on day 4 and was properly ill for the majority of the rest of my stay, including my birthday) and had rather less internets than I was expecting, which meant I took a bunch of pictures, downloaded them onto my laptop and then did nothing with them.

The above photo was taken one beautifully clear night and for once, the straight out of camera shot matched what I "saw" (for the most part) when I was moved to pick up the camera and spent the next few minutes being gently mocked by my in-laws as I lay on my stomach next to the pool snapping away.

Among the dark and gloom of January, it reminds me that there was sun and will be again.