COVID-19 Photo Challenge

Hi Friends,

We want to express our sympathies and offer prayers for those who have been affected by the COVID-19 virus. We know that these tumultuous times are taking a toll on everyone and we could all use a little more beauty and fun in our worlds. So, thanks to the inspiration of one of our lovely community members, we have created a COVID-19 PHOTO CHALLENGE! We hope this will bring a little creativity to your quarantined days and make you smile as we share our lives with our virtual community!

Post to Instagram or Facebook and tag us @itsacolourfulworld and use #IACWcovidchallenge so we can see your corner of this colourful {crazy} world!

Stay healthy & safe,

For the Love of Israeli Food

Last month, while my folks were visiting, we took them to all of our favorite restaurants and introduced them to some fantastic Israeli cuisine. My mom was overwhelmed by the combinations of spices and flavors, so much so, that she was determined we should take an Israeli cooking class. Now I love to eat, but cooking is definitely not my love language, that said any new experience I can photograph is a WIN for me.

One of our lovely Israeli friends, Shani, offered to look into an instructor for us and came up with the best solution ever…her husband, Shai.

Shai is an amazing chef with several years of experience in the restaurant industry, however he had only done cooking classes for his close friends before our group. We were honored that he was willing to plan and execute such an amazing event! For three hours he awed us with his skillZ in the kitchen. Seriously, in three hours he prepared 16 different menu items to serve 8-10 people! Ah-mazing!

He had purchased all the groceries at his favorite local markets and shops, each item was fresh including fish, beef, lamb, fruit, veggies, and spices. Shai even said he could offer classes at the markets and teach people how to shop the markets, especially for spices.

Speaking of spices, Shai had prepared a packet describing each spice we would be using. The biggest surprise for me was sumac, this beautiful garnet colored spice can be sprinkled on anything from meat to focaccia bread. Shani told us her boys request it on everything, ha!

We learned a lot about food, Israeli culture, and where they intersect. When we all sat down to eat it was quiet with the exception of the sound of “mmmmms” from around the table. It was truly a perfect and memorable day.

Of course, the entrepeur in me couldn’t help but suggest Shai do this more often. I know the expat community is literally hungry (pun intended) for great experiences like this. He agreed to think about it, so if you are in the Tel Aviv area and you’d be interested let me know!

L’chaim {cheers in Hebrew},

Special thanks to Shai for teaching & feeding us, to Shani for setting it up, to Vienna for hosting, and to my clever momma for the fabulous idea!!

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PS – Don’t forget to join us for the L O V E Photo Challenge this month!

#IACWLOVE2018 – Shot 4 – Pink or Red….RED, of course!

Love is in the air.

Ahh February, the month of love. Haters will say that every month should be about love and love should be celebrated every day. While this is supposedly true, commercialism has given ‘Love’ the month of February. I hope that doesn’t mean it gets eleven months off!

If you are curious to read up more on the origins of Saint Valentines day, click here.

Katie and I are excited to share with you our ’14 shots of Love’ photo challenge. Whether you celebrate Valentines day or not, we do all celebrate love.

William Shakespeare is my favourite poets of all time. Much of this has to do with the fact that my childhood home literally sat in the middle of Shakespeare street in Brakpan, Johannesburg. We went on to study him in school and by this point I was convinced I knew him better than anyone. My favourite writings from him came from his Sonnets. I want to share one of my favourites with you today to inspire you to embrace, appreciate, and celebrate love this February (and beyond).

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-William Shakespeare

I hope you enjoy this photo challenge and I can’t wait to see what wonderful love-filled imagery floods our social media sites. If you play along, please tag your photo with #IACWLOVE2018.

Much Love,

WINNER! – 2017 Christmas Photo Challenge.

Cheers to Keturah Maraska for being the winner to our 2017 Christmas Photo Challenge.

Your gift voucher is on it’s way.

What we liked about your image: 

• Your composition was spot on in our books. Clear subject, hero and direction.
• Your colours here are contrasting, warm and joyful.
• My favourite quality of all has to be the contrast in texture from the prickled background to the smooth wooden ornament so carefully carved out.

Well done you!

With love-

Note: Keep an eye out for our Valentine’s challenge around the corner.

2017 Christmas Photo Challenge

Happy December everyone! The majority of us are in the swing of the Christmas spirit and NOW always seems like the perfect time to start something, right? We are excited to announce the:

 12 Shots of Christmas Photo Challenge!

This year we are going to do things a little bit differently than in the past, we are going to select a winner from the participants!

This winner will receive an Amazon gift voucher to the value of $50.

To participate you must LIKE and FOLLOW It’s a Colour World on Facebook. Post your images there to be viewed. The image with the highest number of FB likes will be the winner.

We can’t wait to see your fabulous entries!

RULES:

ELIGIBILITY: All are eligible

CONTEST SPONSOR: It’s a Colourful World (IACW)

CONTEST NAME: 12 shots of Christmas Photo Challenge

CONTEST PERIOD: December 6 – December 31, 2017

ENTRY PERIOD:
Starts December 6, 2017 at 12:01 am ET.
Ends December 31, 2017 at 11:59 pm ET.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: The Photo Contest images will be announced here on It’s A Colourful World Blog, IACW Facebook page, and IACW Instagram on Saturday, January 13, 2017.

HOW TO ENTER:  Must LIKE and FOLLOW IACW Facebook and FOLLOW the blog. Participants may enter up to 1 image per theme, up to 12 total, by posting on the IACW Facebook.

SELECTION OF WINNERS: Images entered in the IACW Facebook will be judged per the following:

Technical Execution: The intentional use of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, available light, composition, and focus.

Composition: The creative use of positioning, colour, and framing to capture the subject of the theme.

Theme: Creative expression of the designated theme submitted.

The image with the highest number of FB likes will be the winner.

Tie breaking judging panel is made up of IACW designated individuals who will select images using the above criteria.

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TERMS OF ENTRY: (a) By participating in this Contest, Contestant warrants that his or her entry and all elements thereof (i) do not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including but not limited to, copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, logos, contract and licensing rights, rights of publicity or privacy, moral rights, or any other intellectual property rights; (ii) are not subject to any third party agreements for which IACW could be held financially or legally liable; and (iii) do not contain any content that could adversely affect the name, reputation, mission, or goodwill of IACW. Contestant agrees to indemnify IACW against all damages, costs, and attorney’s fees related to any claims or litigation that arises in relation to Contestant’s participation in the Contest.

(b) IACW reserves the right to disqualify any entries that, in IACW’s sole and absolute discretion, (i) include trademarks, logos, or copyrighted material not owned by Contestant or used without permission; (ii) refer to public figures; (iii) contain profanity, pornographic or sexual content, illegal drugs, tobacco, or firearms or weapons, hateful content of any kind, content that promotes violence or harm to another living creature; (iv) promote a political agenda regardless of the political affiliation and regardless of IACW’s treatment of other entries that may or may not promote a political agenda; (v) defame, misrepresent, or contain disparaging remarks about other people or companies; or (vi) contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs or other identifying elements of any person, living or dead, without permission.

(c) Contestants may not submit entries on behalf of any person other than themselves. If contestant is a minor under the age of 18, contestant must enter with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. Entries not submitted in accordance with the instructions provided in the Official Rules shall be disqualified.

(d) The contestant retains the copyright and exclusive possession of all submissions. The contestant will grant to IACW the nontransferable, nonexclusive license to use, with complete attribution, via any medium, the submission for promotional or other purposes as deemed fit by IACW for a period of two years from the closing date of the contest.

(e) IACW reserves the right to disqualify any entry, for any reason, at its sole discretion.

(f) Neither IACW nor any of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, contractors, subcontractors and each of their respective officers, directors, shareholders, agents and employees, nor any Internet access providers are responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry of information, human error, technical malfunction, lost/delayed data transmission, lost/delayed/misdirected mail, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failure of any telephone or other network, computer equipment, software or any combination thereof, inability to access the Contest Website, for problems uploading or downloading any Contest-related materials from the Contest Website, or for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incorrect or incomplete entry.

(g) If for any reason any aspect of this Contest cannot be completed as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any cause beyond the control of IACW which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Contest, IACW may in its sole discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this Contest, or invalidate any affected submissions.

(h) For purposes of these Official Rules, receipt of Contest Entries occurs when posted to the FB page. Any entry information collected from the Contest may be recorded by IACW for further promotional or marketing purposes.

(i) IACW may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any submissions, and prohibit further participation in this Contest by, any person who tampers with or benefits from any tampering with the submission process or with the operation of this Contest or acts in violation of these terms and conditions, acts in a disruptive manner or acts with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS: (a) IACW reserves the right to use any method or medium that IACW deems fit at its sole and absolute discretion for the purpose of announcing and contacting the Contest winners.

(b) Upon request, Contest winners will be required to provide their contact details and photo ID proof and any other details deemed necessary and relevant by IACW at its discretion, within three working days upon receiving the request/notification from IACW

(c) IACW reserves the right to forfeit prizes for any Contest winner who does not provide the required verification upon receiving the request/notification from IACW.

PRIZES: (a) Any and all guarantees and warranties for prize is subject to the manufacturer’s terms and conditions, and winner agrees to look solely to such manufacturer for any such warranty or guarantee claim.

(b) IACW does not guarantee or make any representations or warranties regarding the quality, performance, features or capabilities/utility of the prizes offered to the winners under the contest and cannot be held responsible and liable in this connection.

(c) Prizes are non-transferable.

(d) Prizes offered on a no exchange, no refund basis.

(e) Prize recipients consent to IACW using his/her name and image in any promotional material.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In honour of love day, we thought we would share some of our favourite shots from this year’s 14 shots of Love Photo Challenge.

We are so proud of our DGRCP Community and just want to thank of them for participating in the challenge.  Enjoy and stay tuned for our next challenge this spring!

lots of love,

Capturing Love Challenge

We love opportunities to grow and take our photography to the next level. One way we do this within our community is through themed photo challenges. In honor of Valentine’s Day we have created a 14 Shots of Love Challenge. Join us and share your unique perspective, as we capture the love all around us. We could all use a bit more LOVE these days, don’t you think?

Use the hashtag #dgrcplove2017 to share your photos with us!

xoxo,