·         The UK is a nation of snappers taking over 600 million photos every week

 

·         52% of Britons take photos on their phones and store an average of 180 pictures on their devices

 

·         Around 1 in 5 snappers have lost photos due to a broken device, 5% due to a stolen device and around 3 in 10 Brits do not back up their digital photos

 

·         People (51%), landscapes (19%) and animals/ pets (11%) are our favourite subjects

 

Thanks to smartphone, tablet and digital camera technology, image hungry Britain now takes an average of over 600 million photos in the week. According to an online study commissioned by SmugMug* the world’s largest independent photo sharing website, which launches to the UK public this week, most of our snaps feature our friends and family, followed by our beautiful countryside with our pets coming in third.

 

With the advancements in technology, our photography habits have changed irrevocably resulting in a photographic Tsunami. The online survey found that Brits take a mean average of 19 photographs in an ordinary week (not taking in account holidays or special occasions). With 47.75 million* adult residents in the UK, that’s a lot of photos – SmugMug estimates over 600 million in fact**.

 

Over half of Brits online (52%) take photos primarily on their phones and 32% keep them there. Of those that do an average of 180 photos are currently stored on their mobiles.

 

Yet when asked how many of us had lost images due to a broken (21%), stolen device (5%) or human error (30%), 56% replied yes they had. Furthermore almost 3 in 10 (28%) Brits admit that they do not back up their photos, with women (32%) being the worst culprits at not ensuring their photographic memories are safe for the future.

 

SmugMug commissioned the survey to discover more about the photo-storing and sharing habits of Britain ahead of launching its first fully formed consumer offering in the UK this week.The company will launch its cloud based photo service, already a major hit in the US to UK customers, offering a safe and secure home for the best and most important of our images. With high level security settings, our 600million photos are safe from theft or copying, yet through links and passwords, our images can be shared with friends, family and loved ones.

 

*Conducted by YouGov for SmugMug

** SmugMug have used an adult population figure of 47,754,569 as a base, and then taken 70% of that (as 30% of the original sample does not take photos during an averag