Photo booth pictures become timeless memorial

Do you remember when Donna Darby-Walthall put out a call for great stories about memorial designs? We have our winner! It's Missy West, West Memorials in Memphis. She shared a very personal story about the memorial she created for her dad and brother:

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"I have been a memorialist for 14 years and by far the most satisfying and happiest marker I have ever designed was for my brother and my dad.

"My brother, Brad, died in a motorcycle accident when we were teenagers. In 1986, his marker was chosen from a catalog. It was 'pine cones,' the most 'masculine' border suggestion the funeral home could offer. Interestingly, my brother and I kept up the yard at our dad's house. We would fight about whose turn it was to do the part of the yard where all the pine trees grew.

"When my dad died, he wanted to be buried with my brother. I knew exactly the picture I wanted to use for the marker. The picture was taken in a photo booth, in an arcade, on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was a fabulous vacation. The photo strip was a family treasure. It hung on several refrigerators or kitchen cabinets over the years. I submitted the very simple design to Trigard.

"I was with a client and my graphics department sent a text asking me to come back to the office - there was a surprise from Trigard.  I could not get things wrapped up fast enough.  I tore open the box and the marker was exactly the way I envisioned.  I cried and laughed.

"My husband, Paul, and I were in SC to arrange the inurnment of my dad's ashes. While in the funeral home, Paul took my brother's old marker from the granite base and replaced it with the new marker for my dad and brother. I was so thrilled to see it in place - I laughed and cried.

"I have a very strict rule for myself, as a memorialist - I never say 'I understand' to a family. It lessens the story being told. You truly do not understand how they feel, their love for a person, the sadness in their heart, the hope that they have for the future. No one could have understood the happiness I had the day I stood at my brother's and dad's grave. The piece of art I designed for these two guys from the picture that made us all giggle was right at my feet, just as I understood it should be."

Thanks,
Missy West
West Memorials, Memphis

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Missy, we are so pleased to help you and your family celebrate their lives and transform those cherished family photographs into a timeless marker. Thank you for sharing your beautiful story!


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

What can I do with a photograph?

Sheryl Baumeister,
Human Resources

"Every time I see your face, it reminds me of the places we used to go. But all I've got is a photograph, and I realize you're not coming back anymore." - "Photograph" by Ringo Starr

As a child, I was exposed to a wide variety of music. The Grammys were a big deal in our household and we always looked forward to watching it. Continuing on that tradition, my family and I had the pleasure of watching Ringo Starr perform his song, "Photograph," this past Sunday night.

What does the Grammys have to do with memorials? For those of you who watched the performance, I'm sure you noticed the photos replaying the life of The Beatles. Every picture told a story and reminded us of our memories of their performances. Our designers at Trigard Memorials can help tell the story of a life lived by customizing a memorial any way you like, even with a photograph.

Let our staff assist you in helping your families tell the story of their loved one. Give us a call at 800.798.4900 for your next customized memorial.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.


Product spotlight: Niche and crypt plates

Trigard Memorials' bronze or aluminum niche and crypt plates are the perfect complement to any new niche or mausoleum. Our exclusive high tech direct-to-metal machining process allows for direct photo replication, resulting in the finest detail in faces and images. Our team of experienced designers can create a collage of 3D photographs or a simpler design enhanced with a border and words of endearment.

Call 800.798.4900 to get started on your next project.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.


Design tip of the week

Please scan images at 300dpi and save in .tif format. With these settings, our designers can produce the best quality memorial possible.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Hunting for high-resolution photos?

Nearly every day a customer contacts us for high-quality images of our products. We are always delighted to find what you need.

Looking for a general library? Call customer service to order a Memorials Image CD. These CDs are waiting on the shelf for you with a comprehensive selection of high-resolution and web-resolution standard images.

Need something custom? We post our standard, most popular images on the CDs, but sometimes you need something special. When you do, please contact orders@trigard.com or call 800.798.4900 for help.
 
This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Pet memorialization products shine at ICCFA

What wonderful conversations we had in Tampa at the 2013 ICCFA Convention and Expo. Wondering what got people's attention?

Thanks in part to the PLPA presence at the convention, we had a lot of interest in our pet memorialization products, especially our pet memorial rock with cremation container. 

We also showcased Memorial Security, the temporary memorial program that is helping companies lock in memorial sales. Attendees were delighted to see how easy it was to use our online ordering system to upload a photo and design a temporary memorial.

   

Of course our cast bronze Veteran Companion memorial and all of our bronze markers were frequent topics of conversation.

Are you up to speed on all of the popular products featured at ICCFA? If not, click the links above or call Customer Service at 800.798.4900. Our team would be delighted to tell you all about these featured products.

Good Photos vs. Bad Photos

At Trigard Engraved Bronze we pride ourselves in producing an exact replica of any photograph into an engraved bronze product. This exact replication can result in the finest of bronze products if the photograph that we receive is of high quality. Likewise if the image quality is poor, it will result in a poor quality bronze product.
Our preferred file format to save a scanned photo is a .TIF or .TIFF file. This enables us to receive the most detail because the way the software saves all the detail in the photograph. When a photograph is saved as a .JPG image, much of the fine detail gets lost. This is not to say that we cannot produce a product from a .JPG file, but it will result in a final product that is not of the finest quality.
We also would like to have the files saved with a resolution of at least 200dpi. DPI stands for dots per inch, and if you look closely at a photograph it is made of thousands and thousands of tiny dots. The more dots per inch, the higher the quality of the image will be. 300dpi is even better, but may result in a file that is too large to e-mail. We thank you for the opportunity to allow our staff to produce the ultimate in 3-D relief imaging.





For more information about our products visit:
http://www.trigardbronze.com/