private void AddItemToParent(XElement parent, ImageItem item) { ImageOperations operationsOnImage = new ImageOperations(); BitmapImage image = operationsOnImage.ResizeImage(item.ChosenImage, OperationsOnSettings.Instance.PhotoWidth, OperationsOnSettings.Instance.PhotoHeight, 100, true); byte[] imageByte = operationsOnImage.ConvertImageToBytes(image); System.Text.Encoding enc = System.Text.Encoding.Unicode; string imageString = System.Convert.ToBase64String(imageByte); XElement imageElement = new XElement("img_data"); imageElement.Value = imageString; parent.Add(imageElement); }