How to keep smiling this autumn!

Celebrate autumn with a photography session from Venture Studios!

Autumn is rapidly descending upon us, and for many people it can be a depressing time of year. Summer is over, mornings and evenings are getting noticeably darker, and there is a definite chill in the air despite the intermittent bursts of sunshine.

Add to that the ever increasing political shenanigans and we definitely need something to cheer us up! And here’s the way to do it …..

Recent research by Marella Cruises listed the top ten things that are most likely to make us smile:

• A random act of kindness
• Sunshine
• A holiday
• A funny joke
• Good food
• Receiving a “thank you” from a stranger
• Receiving a smile from a stranger
• Good customer service
• Hearing a baby laugh
• Fresh sheets

You may well have others to add to the above list, so why not make your own “happy list” for this autumn? Every day make sure you are open to the possibility of something on your happy list happening to you. Also try to be proactive and offer something from your happy list to someone else.

It’s interesting that first on the above list is “a random act of kindness”. If you Google the term there are over 22 million results. These include a website called Random Acts of Kindness that lists hundreds of ideas for ways that you can demonstrate kindness to others.

This autumn there are also several organised opportunities to show kindness on a collective basis. Three examples of this are:

• Secondhand September
  Organised by Oxfam, this is a pledge to buy no new clothes for the month of September. If you need clothes then buy them second hand, and if you have clothes that you don’t need then donate them to your nearest Oxfam shop. The aim of this personal challenge is to reduce the amount of clothing going to landfill, which is unsustainable for our environment. Also by using charity shops such as Oxfam to reuse and recycle clothing, more money will be raised to alleviate global poverty.


• Go Sober for October
  This annual initiative is organised by Macmillan. It encourages people to become Soberheroes and go 31 days without alcohol this October. The aim is that by being sponsored to say no to the booze, lots of money will be raised to help people living with cancer.


• Movember
  The Movember charity aims to change the face of men’s health. They are raising awareness of various men’s health projects including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Their most publicised fundraising campaign is asking men to grow a moustache in November and be sponsored for doing so.

There are many other charity and community events and campaigns this autumn, but why not consider getting involved in one of the above major campaigns in addition to whatever your other plans are?

A great way to publicise your support of these initiatives is to capture your involvement by the use of photography. All the above campaigns are keen for you to take relevant photographs of your efforts and progress and share them on social media, tagging the campaign in those photographs. This helps to spread the word and get others involved - which in turn leads to more money being raised.

If there are a few of you taking part in any of the above campaigns, you might also want to organise a fun photography experience to celebrate your involvement and encourage others to do it next time round. Whether it’s a fashion parade of glamorous second hand clothes, your own personalised Soberhero costumes, or the most impressive moustaches on the planet; capturing these moments will help you to relive your acts of kindness and inspire others to do the same.

So this autumn, why not decide to be happy and help others to do the same. Whatever is on your happy list, we wish you every success!

If you do decide to celebrate with a photography experience, you can either book online, contact your nearest Venture Studio, or call us on 0845 121 1085. We look forward to seeing you smile this autumn.