IT MAY be pouring with rain outside but to instantly get that sunny holiday feeling nothing can beat the humble photograph.

Or at least that's what you think. Memories can soon become hazy as you flick through blurred pictures, ones marred by red eye and others destroyed by the fact you forgot to use the flash.

Which is why some photo companies have now decided to use the Internet to enable customers to pick and choose the pictures they want.

And now, leading photo developers Boots are set to get in on the act with the launch of bootsphoto.com

The idea is simple: You pop your film into a envelope, send it to be processed and then wait while the photos are scanned into a computer and placed on a website, the address of which is e-mailed to you.

From there you can take a look at your snaps and select the ones you want before waiting until the firm sends back a hard copy of the photographs together with the negatives.

Last year the e-photo market was worth more than 66 million dollars in America and that figure is expected to rocket to a whopping 1.5 billion dollars by the end of this year.

Extra prints

Its growth is set to accelerate even further as more and more people gain access to the Internet on mobile phones and digital televisions.

The existing US Internet photo firms make the majority of their money from customers ordering additional prints purchasing merchandise.

And Phil Douty, head of bootsphoto.com, said, "The Internet is going to fundamentally change the photographic market in Britain."

Major telecommunication and internet companies including Energis and Planet Online are working with Boots to develop the service.

The firm is upgrading its minilabs to digital technology which it said would also benefit non-internet customers.

Digital technology apparently gives the highest quality developing and printing available.

But what the photo services also offer are facilities such as a permanent, individual photo album on the Internet, providing an easy way to share snaps with friends and family.

With Boots, reprints and enlargements can be collected from its stores across the country.

Mr Douty added: "Because Boots has already invested in its own in-store digital mini-labs, we are uniquely positioned to launch a complete e-photo service and roll it out fast through our 1,400 stores, thereby reaching the whole UK market."