So it's not NYC...

Back in January I entered a photo competition held by wix.com on Facebook. Participants were instructed to print out a pre-made "wix was here" sign, in an size they'd like, and use it in their image in any original way they could think of. The winner will be the person who got the most amount of votes, and he or she will receive a trip for two to New York City (!)
So I got my wheels working and though up a concept, printed out the wix sign real small, and shot it inside my Cheerios bowl. (you can see it here). Then for the next three weeks I campaigned as hard as I could, here & on Facebook, trying to get the help of my friends in voting for my entry. My friends came through. You guys came through. I've received so many votes that for the most part of the competition I was among the top 20 (out of about 650-700 entries!). But I guess it just wasn't enough, cause a Mexican guy with a cowboy hat and a mustache got the jackpot. Congrats to him.
But it's not all bad folks, I did get a special tribute prize! The Wix peeps decided to grant four of the participants a $100 gift voucher to be used on Amazon.com. Hurray!
Thanks to all who took the time and voted for me! Just let me know when I can return the favor :)

They wrote: "We're proud to announce the miracle four who won a special tribute prize for their great 'Wix Was Here' photos. Tali Schiffer, Danny Allen, Christian Tello and Leïla Zouiten, we sure hope you enjoy your $100 Amazon gift cards. You've earned them, big time!"

Four on Tuesday

This week I wanted to put the spotlight on local talent, right here in Tel Aviv :)

1. Inmost Light  2. Shlomit Ofir Details

3. Knobbly  4. Veroque

Postcards

A while back I caught a blog post on my dear friend Andrea Despot's blog. She's a great blogger & also a very talented photographer. The post was about her new postcards that she had just listed on Etsy. They had round edges, which I absolutely love (!!) and that got me intrigued. I asked her about where she had gotten them printed from, and she informed me it was from overnightprints.com. She even offered to mail me a postcard so I can see for myself what they looked like. A week later I got her card in the mail. How sweet! Besides the fact that I just loved her photo, I was definitely pleased with the quality and look of it all. So much so, that I had decided to order some for myself. I got the design ready, uploaded everything to the site and got my order done... until it was shipping calculations time... Want to try and guess how much was it going to cost me, just the shipping part, for 3 packs of 20 5x7 cards from the U.S. to Israel...? well, it was about $80. No kidding. I thought I made a mistake with the address or something. This was about 3 times the cost of what I was shipping. I was frustrated. But then Andrea came to my rescue! She suggested I'd have them ship the package to her (since she lives in the U.S.) and then she will ship it to me. The difference in shipping costs? about a quarter of the cost! Well, to make a long story short I ordered the postcards, that got shipped to Andrea, who shipped them to me, and they have arrived nice and safely. Thanks Andrea!
Oh, and they are now listed on Etsy :)
Here are the fun photos I did with my someone for their listings

Fruit

Week forty eight's subject over on You See i See was Fruit. I wanted to photograph an image that will not fall short of all those inspiring photographs on my favorite food blogs. Though I had the vision in my head, bringing it to action turned a bit difficult. I am not a food photographer by profession, and therefor I am unprepared when it comes to all the necessary accessories- pretty plates, cups, glass-ware ; an assortment of fabrics and tea-towels and such ; interesting backgrounds as well as table-tops. So I had to make do with what was around in my kitchen, as well as use my one & only table top (which I love so much, that I end up using it almost every time!).
At the end of it all, I am actually quite pleased with the end result, but I did come to a decision. I am going to invest a little in stacking up some of the items I am missing, so I can have them around for whenever the opportunity presents itself again...
By the way, for really inspiring food photography head on over to Cannelle et Vanille and to Sunday Suppers

P.S. if you can please help me out, I need as many votes as I can to win this Wix competition and fly to NYC (!!) So click here and vote for me. (AND, you can vote again and again every 24 hours, until Feb 21st). Thanks :)

Four on Tuesday

Happy Love Day! how did you celebrate V-Day?

1. Early Bright 2. Kristy Bee Photography

3. Sunshine Bakes 4. Kristin Coffin 

Winter Sunsets

Ever since we moved to our apartment on the outskirts of Yafo I've been obsessed with sunsets. How could I not be when almost every afternoon there is a natural display of light, colors, and clouds in the sky in front of our eyes?! It's become just about a daily routine for me, to glance out the window when the sun starts setting down west right into the Mediterranean sea. I even have my camera set on my desk, near the window, so if needed it would be at my service. The rooftops of old Yafo, and the palm trees on the hill in front of the sea, make for the perfect background to these amazing sunsets. And I simply can not stop capturing them!
These are a few taken this last December & January.

P.S. if you can please help me out, I need as many votes as I can to win this Wix competition and fly to NYC (!!) So click here and vote for me. (AND, you can vote again and again every 24 hours, until Feb 21st). Thanks :)

Four on Tuesday

We'll be 'cooking' this week on You See i See, so this is only fitting :)

1. Sweet Harvey 2. one Canoe two

3. jamlovely 4. Hattie's house

Behind the scenes

As you may already know, apart from being a striving photographer I am also employed as a shift manager in one of Tel-Aviv's finest restaurants - "Dallal" (that means pleasure or pampering in Arabic). Every so often at Dallal there is a menu change of some sorts and that is always accompanied by a promotional photoshoot of the new dishes. This time it's the dessert menu that has undergone a complete redesign, and so last week we had a complete photoshoot done with a food photographer & a food stylist. Though I wasn't asked to photograph the desserts I was asked to come along and photograph the 'behind the scenes' of the set. Here are some of the images. You can see the rest here

P.S. if you can please help me out, I need as many votes as I can to win this Wix competition and fly to NYC (!!) So click here and vote for me. (AND, you can vote again and again every 24 hours, until Feb 21st). Thanks :)

Squeeze Me

I found this on I Art U. Too cool!

Four on Tuesday

This week it's 'Blue' on You See i See, so it's only fitting to do a blue foursome on here too

1. Lila Ruby King 2. Faux Kiss

3. Oh Dier 4. Rich in Craft