It isn’t often that I take the pen in my hands but I felt this is one of those times when I felt I would be able to convey the message the best.

As some of you have noticed, we recently introduced a convenience fee for orders being picked up in-store. Some of you expressed dismay about the new fee, so I would like to explain the reason we made the change.

For a long time, we had been puzzled that many orders slated for store pickup were never claimed. Of those that were picked up, many (over 20%) waited for over a month before being picked up.  As you can imagine, this added up over time. With the limited space in NYC this situation grew out of control, and we were out of space at the pickup counter.

About a year ago, we tried to address the situation by sending out reminder emails as well as trying to reach customers by phone. It helped a little but not enough. Unfortunately, this also added labor costs. We considered putting an end to the in-store pickup service, but before doing so we surveyed our customers about their reasons for ordering store pickup. The top three responses were:

1.       It’s convenient.

2.       It’s faster.

3.       It’s free.

Since some of our customers benefited from the service, we decided to keep it and instead add a small convenience fee to cover our costs while maintaining the option for those who benefitted from the speed and convenience.

I would love to hear your thoughts and if you feel there is a better solution. We are certainly open to other ideas.

It’s time to rake in the savings with great sale on our hardcover photo books.  This week only you can save 30% off hard cover photo books with the code: pxbkfall30.  You can choose any size of hard cover photo book you would like to receive this great deal. Choose a cute little 6×6 to put in someone’s stocking.. or better yet, how about a 12×12 to make a statement? Hurry though, savings start to fall the longer you wait.

The images are haunting  and heartbreaking.  We are talking about the photographs emerging from Hurricane Sandy that swept through our beloved city. As most us were able to prepare the best that we could, we had no idea how powerful a storm Sandy would be and the path of destruction she would leave behind.

Everyone in the city was affected in one way or another. We also did not escape her wrath. We are located on West 18th Street in New York City and were closed yesterday and again today. We have no power, our email is down and with transportation shut down in NYC, no one can get back and forth to work safely. We understand this is an inconvenience for our members who need their orders. We only hope you’ll be patient with us as we get back on our feet, asses the damage and get back to work fulfilling your orders.

Our members are everything to us, without you we would not exist. We do not take this lightly.  If you need to reach us, please feel free to reach out to myself,  Libby, on all our social media channels. You can also use this temporary email in cases of urgency, temp_info_line@adoramapix.com.

This photo courtesy of NASA really shows the magnitude and power of Hurricane Sandy.

Costumes, children, trick-or-treat buckets… Oh my! Halloween is here and with it, sugary sweet moments and memories just dying to be photographed.

Capture the spooktakular excitement of the holiday with these easy-to-follow tips.

Halloween Photography Tips

Photograph the details

Throwing a Halloween party? Don’t forget to photograph the itty bitty details. Take a few shots of your tablescape and treats before guests arrive.

Find unique perspectives

Switch things up and have some fun. Stop shooting straight on – look for exciting and unique perspectives when shooting Halloween decorations.

Up high. Down low. To the right or left. Experiment as you go!

Capture candid moments

Watch, wait and prepare to click. Capture eager hands digging into bowlfuls of candy corn.

And sneaky little children munching on brownies under the table.

There’s no limit to the amount of fun when sugar is involved. Stand at the ready to capture those awesome candid moments.

Grab that group shot without shedding a tear

Kids unruly, uncooperative and high on sugar? Don’t be afraid to bribe them into taking a group shot before heading out to trick-or-treat. Cotton candy, sleepovers, a brand new car. It doesn’t matter what you bribe them with.

Though you could always promise to let them unleash their silly faces once the nice shots are out of the way.

Heck, you might even prefer the silly shots over the calm, collected and properly posed ones.

Don’t forget the costumes

Photograph your pretty little princess in all her glory.

Position her in front of a mirror during the big reveal. You’ll get great costume detail shots and are guaranteed to get a few smiles too.

Get up close and personal with a portrait

Don’t forget to squeeze a few portraits in. Focus on your trick-or-treater’s beautiful face.

Who can resist big brown eyes, a sweet smile and a pretty painted face?

Think outside the box (or jack-o-lantern)

Forget those boring jack-o-lantern photos. Create a sweet and memorable photo this holiday by photographing your jack-o-lantern in a sweet and sentimental way.

Treat yourself to some cool trick-or-treating shots

Don’t be afraid to experiment once the sun goes down. You can still capture compelling trick-or-treat photos without the use of flash.

Kick up your ISO, shoot wide open, slow that shutter speed down and take advantage of pockets of light.

With just a little bit of patience, pre-planning and creativity, you too can capture the sugary sweet excitement of Halloween.

What are some of your favorite things to shoot during Halloween?

AdoramaPix Contributor: Kristi Bonney is a writer, photographer and speaker with a deep-seated love for all things social media. Her blog, Live and Love Out Loud, is a beautiful and inspiring hub for photographers of all skill levels – featuring photography tips and tutorials, freebies and inspiring photo challenges. Kristi’s passion for photography is matched by her love of parenting and empowering women.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the U.S.

I was recently talking with member, Monica Schiller, about her work at the Park Nicollet Jane Brattain Breast Center   out of Minnesota. She told me about an amazing initiative the foundation and center is launching. They will be launching a truck called the Mammo- a -go-go. It’s an outreach program designed to make sure women get their mammograms to detect any signs of breast cancer. It’s on wheels and comes to you. While, this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we at Adoramapix would like to support  breast cancer outreach, research and education during October. We thought what better way than to donate some money to this worthwhile cause, because as we know early detection can often be the key to surviving breast cancer.

So with this in mind, during the last week in October, we would like to donate *$1 for each new “Like” we get on our  facebook page. That’s right, all you have to do is “Like” us.. and what’s not to like? From October 25th through the 31st, each new like will net this foundation/center $1. (up to $5,000) So ask your friends, your  family, your community to get involved. It’s as easy as clicking a button. Donation and charity doesn’t get much easier than this..

This is not all though, we would like to offer during this last week 20% off our Soft Pink and Blush Leather-Lux books, any size. Simply use code: pxpink20 through October 31st and you can save 20% off your Pink Leather Lux Photo Book.  We are so excited to be involved and help in this worthwhile cause and foundation.  So help us, help others.. start HERE by clicking “like”.