I’ve pondered on writing this blog post for Adoramapix. I finally decided that as part of my grieving process it was important for me to let the words and the images spill out and for me to share my experience with members.

Last week, my 82-year-old father passed away. I live in Canada and received the call on a Sunday that it was urgent that I come to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, as my father was dying.  As you can imagine, it was a long trip to Wisconsin in winter as images from my father and I filled my head.  I remember the time we danced in the basement to Lawrence Welk or the times we went swimming in the summers.

I knew this week would be his last week of life. I knew I wanted to document it in a way that I would remember how I felt, what was going through my mind and most importantly, I wanted this last thread to connect me to him. So I used my iphone to document my grief.

I arrived in time to make it by his bedside. I was the last plane in before 10 inches of snow hit the area and the airport was shut down. I knew my father was waiting for me to arrive, he was hanging on and would not go anywhere without me, my siblings and my mother  by his side.

Two days went by, as my family and I were with him, he squeezed our hands letting us know he understood what was happening. We made him laugh in those last 48 hours with tales from growing up. It was a bittersweet moment as I laughed through the tears and watched my mother hang on to him through the stories.

He passed away with dignity. I held his hand as he passed from this life to the next. We headed back to our Iowa farm as we entered the next phase of grief and death and I saw the most beautiful sunset surround our 160 acre farm.   We now needed to plan his funeral.

As the sun rose the next morning, I was in charge of all things media related. This included writing his obituary and gathering his pictures. I hammered out 82 years of life into 4 paragraphs.  It didn’t seem right as my father was so much more than this. He was a midwest farmer and teacher who was captain of his high school football team, raised a family, loved sports, served in the military, served his community and flew the American Flag every day. He was so much more than those 4 paragraphs.

I started to gather the pictures. The pictures were the most tangible things I had that connected me to him. I laughed at his pictures of him as a child running with horses. I saw what a handsome man he was in high school and university. I saw the young husband looking dashing on his honeymoon with his wife. I saw the proud father of his first born, then his second, then his third, then me.  I saw the pride as he worked at his school. I saw the pride he had when he worked in the fields. A rush of memories came flooding back.

Nothing could have prepared me for seeing my father laid to rest. It’s not something one can prepare for or even fathom. I only had my iphone on me to snap a picture of the American Flag being presented to my mother. It was such an emotional time, I was glad I could capture it quietly.

I guess the reason I wrote this post is two fold really. I wanted to first and foremost grieve. I wanted to tell someone my father’s story. Secondly, I wanted people to understand how important it is to get images off your hard drives, your phones, your cds and dvds. You never know how important an image is until you lose someone important to you. Most times the photograph is all you have left of them. I have over 200 images I will be printing through Adoramapix. I am ordering regular prints and metal prints as well as putting together a photo book. I am helping my brothers and sister grieve and my mother. I am making sure my children remember their PaPa with these images.  Most importantly, I have something tangible to hold on to with my father’s memory attached to it.  A print is more than paper and ink, it’s memories, it’s sadness, it’s happiness, it’s love. It’s all these emotions and so much more.  Because in the end, this life is temporary but we can preserve glimpses of a beautiful life through pictures and photo books.

-Libby

This is just our annual reminder about Adoramapix sales. We often will alert members of a sale through email, facebook, twitter and google plus. Our sales are not retroactive. In other words, if an order is place before a sale, it is not eligible for the discount. Also, we are not able to extend our sale beyond a certain point. We value our members and their feedback. Please feel free to leave comments here or you can always email me directly at libby@adoramapix.com if you have further questions/concerns. Thank you.

Childhood is filled with milestones, memorable moments and a whole lot of rip roaring fun. Kids are constantly on the go – jumping, skipping, hopping, running here, there and everywhere. Capturing photos of your kids in action can be quite tricky at times, but the following tips should help.

5 Tips for Capturing Photos of Your Kids in Action

Increase your shutter speed. Freeze the action by using faster shutter speeds. Depending on the amount of available light and how fast your children are moving, a minimum shutter speed of 1/250th – 1/500th of a second should do the trick.

Plan ahead, anticipate. Think about the scene, shooting conditions, type of shots you’d like to capture and potential photo opportunities ahead of time if at all possible, especially when shooting sporting events. You’ll want to set up where you’ll see the most action.

Shoot in bursts. Take advantage of your camera’s ability to shoot several consecutive photos by using its continuous shooting drive mode. You’ll walk away with the money shot and a great action sequence as well.

Experiment with different angles. Try shooting your children in action in unique ways. Shoot from up high or down low. Tilt your camera slightly to inject a little dose of fun into your image. Or get crazy and jump in – take a photo of your kids swimming underwater with the help of a waterproof camera.

Pay special attention to details. Twirling dresses, ponytail full of hair flying, excited expressions…capture all the sweet little details that pull you in.

What are some of the challenges you face when taking action photos of your children?

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.

This month we kick off  What’s App Wednesdays. t’s a blog post each week dedicated to photo apps for photographers.  For those that have smart phones and take pictures every day, knowing what to do with those photos after the capture is just as important as taking them.  First up, FX Photo Studio a Mac based software app fromMacPhun. MacPhun has been around for awhile and is making great strides in the Instagram and Mac communities.

FX Photo Studio bloomed from theiPhone app that has been among the top iOS photography apps since its release about 4 years ago. Depending on your level of  photography, it’s available in both Pro and non-Pro versions  with over 170 photo filters and effects. The possibilities are limitless. Today we are focusing on the Mac version software. When you load the software and open it up, you are greeted with a sharp looking interface that is uncluttered and easy to navigate.

The attention is always on your photo allowing you to easily navigate throughout the app while never losing site of your original image.  You can see a few of the effects and filters from these screen captures. They have the staples such as B & W, Vignettes, Sketch, etc. Some of the more fun ones I enjoyed were Ancient Canvas, Atlantic Beach and Vintage Blue. What’s great is the horizontal bar on the bottom let’s you preview your image within those filters without having to navigate away from the original image.  It take a little time to figure out a system that works best for you each user, but once you see the filters and effects are categorized, you catch on quickly. You are also able to apply the effects to only certain parts of your image.

I enjoy the fact you can either apply a filter and be done, or you can manually adjust and tune to your liking. So it’s perfect for the novice and it’s perfect for the perfectionist. You are able to share quite easily within the app to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.  It can handle large files but if you are looking  to have it handle batches of large amounts of photos, it is not quite capable to handle large amounts.

Here are some amazing samples of different :

Atlantic Beach

Brush Strokes

Tilt Shift + Glendale

Your Best Shot 2012 Contest

Contest Details – Please Read Carefully!

How to enter:

1. Like Adoramapix on Facebook. If you do not use Facebook – proceed to #2.
2. Submit one image – high resolution jpeg 300 dpi to : UPDATED EMAIL AS OF 03/10/2013 : ybs2012_3@adoramapix.com
3. We will post the images on our Facebook wall.
4. Image must have been captured in the year 2012. Entries are due by March 17, 2013, midnight EST.

 The Prizes:

1.  Grand Prize (1 winner): Estimated Value: $2000.00

- Your Choice either a Canon 6d OR a Nikon D600 camera body.

2. Top 12 Runner Ups: Estimated Value: $25.00

- Each top 12 Runner Up will win an 8x8” -14 page Adoramapix photo book with the winning entries displayed

Dates to Know:

The Deadline: March 17, 2013

A team of Adoramapix Judges will then choose the top 25 images based on technical and artistic ability.

The  Vote: April 2013

The top 25 images will be posted on the Adoramapix Blog.  Adoramapix members will then pick their  favorites from the 25 images posted. The top 12 images that receive the most votes will be awarded the Best of 2012 8x8” -14 page Adoramapix Photo Book.

The Winner Announced:  May 2013

A team of Adoramapix Judges will choose the Grand Prize Winner out of the top 12 Best of 2012 winners.

The Winner will be announced via our Blog first, followed by Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and a mail out.

Official Rules: All 2013 General Adoramapix  Contest Rules Apply

*You will be disqualified if you enter more than one image. If you are not a fan of these contests, please don’t participate.  We’ll continue to try to find new contests and new prizes that will make it fun and interesting to be a part of the Adoramapix  community. Thank you for your support.