PhotoSynthesis

06/01/2026

You’ve got 2 weeks left to finalize your Iowa State Fair 🎪 photo choices and get them printed and mounted! 📷 🤩

We print and mount hundreds of your best photos every year for the fair and we love to see your work featured at the fairgrounds! 🤩🏆 When you print and mount your photos here, you can be assured your entries will be the best they can be!

This year’s Theme is ‘America 250’ in honor of the United States semiquincentennial. The theme asks photographers to document the identity, heritage, and spirit of America today. It features special classes to capture the American spirit, ranging from patriotic traditions to diverse daily life and communities.

If you’d like us to send the entry form and info to you, comment below!

Deadline for in-person entries: Sunday, June 14.

📷 🇺🇸 🥇🎪🎟️

05/25/2026

05/24/2026

I can’t wait to watch this video reel! I found a few untitled reels in a dark basement a few weeks ago. Hoping it was family memories, I held up the film to the shop door with a jewelers loop and lo and behold, I could make make out my 5 year old self, standing next to my mom, who is feeding my baby brother at our kitchen table in DeKalb, Illinois. 😍

I don’t recall ever seeing this movie! If it was transferred previously it would have been to VHS, and those deteriorate after time so best to go from the original reels anyway since they exist. I am so excited!

The film will be cleaned and digitized frame by frame to ensure the best quality scan, ensuring the best possible movie clarity. Once digital, it is easily shared!

I’ll be setting up the digitized movie on a couple screens in the shop, so you can see the difference in your scanning options when you bring your reels in for digitization.

Hope to see you in the shop soon! And thank you for allowing me to help you save your most special family memories too. 🤩

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05/23/2026

It’s a gorgeous day downtown! Hope to see you at the market until 12:30 or the shop until 4!

Ames Main Street Farmers' Market

05/15/2026

📣 And just like that…. It’s 5/15! And that means it’s time to celebrate 515 day, an homage to our Iowa home here in the 515 area code.

Hope to see you downtown tonite for our city celebration! Kid friendly, but also fun for adults too. Lots of food trucks, inflatables, 🍺 from Torrent Brewing Company, 🎵 from foxpinband and many shops open late! 🥳🤩 Link to event in comments!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

See you tonite 4-8!

05/14/2026

Can you relate?

A tiny joy: finding forgotten photos behind the front photo in a frame 😀🥸

🖼️

05/12/2026

Downtown street party (family friendly!) Friday night!! 515 Day. (Our area code, for you new to Iowa!) Come down for music 🎶 , food trucks 🛻 & shopping🛍️. Inflatables and face painting for the kids!

If you can volunteer to monitor barricades (get 2 free drink tickets!) sign up on the Downtown Ames website. And once you’re signed up for a volunteer slot, come in to the shop (before 4:00 Friday or 10-4 Saturday!) for a *free 515 sticker or magnet* as a small token of appreciation. 🧲⭐️🥳 See the magnet & sticker 515 design in comments!

👏⭐️🥳😍☀️

We are so excited for Friday!

https://downtownames.org/upcoming-events/515day-2026/

05/10/2026

My mom came to visit me when I lived in Dijon. She made the trek, alone! 🤩

And it’s a lot getting to Dijon.✈️ 🚆 🚗 🚌 🚶

Once you arrive in Paris, you need to get to the Gare de Lyon which involves navigating transportation from Charles de Gaul airport. And once you get to the gare, you have to figure out how to find your train. It’s a huuuggeee station with many trains arriving and leaving every 10-20 minutes! And once you find your train you have to find your car, and seat. 😅

Then. Once you arrive at the gare in Dijon, you have to get to your destination, requiring a bus ride, then most likely a walk. And don’t forget you’ve done all this lugging your suitcases, most likely without sleep the last 24 hours! 🧳 😳👏

Yet, my mom made this journey by herself. Because she’d never been to France, (and being part French!) and she didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. And that shows the level of courage she mustered. Not knowing French, never having traveled alone (let alone out of the country), or navigating transportation in a big city, she went for it. 👏

Choosing to leave your comfort for the unknown is brave.

Today on Mother’s Day, I honor all you moms, and people who take care of someone, who show by example how to expand your world, and how to be brave, even when you don’t know what lies ahead.

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful courageous mom. 💕 I love you ❤️

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05/02/2026

Come down to opening day of your Ames Main Street Farmers' Market!

All the great vendors you love and MORE, as it’s extended down Main Street into the 200 block! 🥳

It’s also the debut of our new yard sign! ☮️ 💗 We open at 10.
🙌

Grab your sweater and your sunglasses 🕶️, and start your day on beautiful Main Street. 🥰🤩☀️

🌍💛💚

04/26/2026

Photo organizing tip!

Photos keep your stories alive. 🙌 This is a photo I recently found. 😍 My maternal grandmother Faith in the middle, with her mom and dad, and sister and brother. 🤩

Gather your old family photos and ask your elders about them before they are gone. Write notes on the back. Get them digitized (we can help!). Add the note to your file name. It doesn’t matter how long it is! You can do this before or after digitization.

Naming your digital files with names, dates, and locations makes searching for specific people or events so easy!

This is how I’ll name the digital copy of this photo so I can find it later:
Photo Latham family 1930 Faith

This way if I search for an era I find it, or by my grandma’s name I find it. And anyone in the future knows what I know about it. *If I also knew if they were gathered for a special occasion I’d include that too along with their location.

Once photos are all named well it’s easy to organize them into folders if you choose to do that.

I feel accomplished just to get them named. 👏 Do a little bit every day. Don’t overwhelm yourself

I love their clothes, especially my great grandpa’s tie! 👔

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