The Groves: Making a treasure of memories

Ever since their children flew the nest, Julie and Chris Grove have been exploring the world on magical holidays to every corner of the globe. Since their first holiday together on honeymoon to the Lake District, they’ve gone on to visit every continent, including unforgettable trips to India, New Zealand and Antarctica. This globe-trotting couple relive their travels by creating a CEWE PHOTOBOOK of each adventure, and now have a wonderful collection of books to share with their family.

Julie and Chris reminisce about their Antarctic adventure. Julie and Chris reminisce about their Antarctic adventure.

The grandchildren are especially fond of looking through these mementoes, and can often be found in the corner by the bookshelf, surrounded by the photo books of their grandparents’ travels. As Julie explains, “We’ve always been a photographing family”, and the CEWE PHOTOBOOK is the perfect way to take these treasured family photographs and bring them to life. “When you make something you invest it with love. It’s a collection of expressions of love for my family”, Julie says. Their 2014 trip to Antarctica was a particular highlight for the pair, and the couple admit that the photo book of this once in a lifetime journey might just be their favourite from the collection.

An Antarctic Adventure

Julie has always been fascinated by the polar regions, so a trip to Antarctica was always high on her list. In reality, it was even more exceptional than she’d imagined. Here, she and Chris look back on their trip through the pages of their CEWE PHOTOBOOK.

The Groves

Married for 48 years, Julie and Chris Grove have a shared passion for travelling, and are lucky enough to go away every other month or so. But as they say, “We don’t do beach holidays!”

Julie

Julie is the one who designs all of the couple’s photo books. Each one is made as a gift for Chris, and he won’t see it until it arrives in the post, so every book is a surprise. “I always say, ‘Thank you for a lovely holiday.’

Julie’s Hobbies: Reading, music, the theatre, and flower arranging...and, of course, travel and photography!

"2004 was when I discovered digital photography. It was the year I retired and my colleagues gave me a camera. This was a revelation to me. And in a way, these CEWE books are the perfect companion to digital photography."

Chris

Although he jokes that he only went along “to carry the bags”, Chris loved their Antarctic adventure just as much as Julie, and describes it as “an extraordinary holiday”. His favourite part of their trip was walking amongst the local penguins, who are quite unafraid of humans.

Chris’ Hobbies: Music, travelling and charitable activities.

"Once you find yourself walking amongst wildlife which has no fear of your presence you feel very privileged."

A Home Filled with Memories

Set on a quiet suburban street, the Groves' home is a treasure trove of family mementos and keepsakes from holidays all around the world. From here they plan their next adventure. “We hope to go to Greenland later this year. Just for a change, however, we’ve booked a Caribbean trip for 2017!"

Photographs of happy family moments can be found in every corner.

Julie always keeps her small Canon camera close by, just in case a photo opportunity arises when she’s out and about.

The couple often look back through their photo books of past trips. “It is a joy. To look at them again is to relive those experiences.”

A small souvenir to remind Julie and Chris of one of the highlights of their trip to Antarctica: walking with the local penguins.

I've got a map of the world on my study wall, with pins in it. We now have pins in all the continents.

Julie and Chris’ growing collection of photo books is one of the first things you spot when visiting their home.

When you make something you invest it with love. It's a collection of expressions of love for my family.

Julie and Chris Grove

Julie’s Tips & Tricks

Julie has now made over 45 photo books, so she’s a bit of an expert when it comes to designing a CEWE PHOTOBOOK. Here she shares three of her top tips for anyone planning to turn their own holiday snaps into a photo book.

Planning

I find myself thinking about the photo book when I take my photographs now. I will have the cover in mind – wanting to have an image that will wrap around the book, with the main feature on the right of the picture (for the front), with a suitable space for the title, and which evokes the atmosphere of the trip.

Variety

I like to vary the layout with some whole page images opposite collages of smaller ones, or even just a couple of well-spaced photographs. I like to be able to bleed some images to the edge of the page and the CEWE software is flexible and intuitive enough to allow you to do that. The photographs choose themselves, although it is time-consuming selecting maybe 10% of the thousands I’ve taken!

Captions

I want to tell a story with each book I make, whether it’s a year in the life of the family or a trip, or a record of a memorable event, so I caption most pages, even sometimes researching the subject to annotate the page with information or poetry. That way the books all tell their own stories and become reference books as well as treasures.