CSN Give Away Win!

I won Penny's blog, The Comforts of Home CSN online Stores $55 gift certificate give away last week, and I asked my daughter-in-law, who is expecting our second grandson, to choose something she needed for the baby with it.

She chose this adorable Badger Basket Natural Hooded Moses Basket with blue gingham bedding! It will come in handy when the baby is born. It is very portable for when she needs a comfortable place for the baby to sleep when she brings him out with my older grandson to a friend's house, or to playgroup.  When he is older and can no longer use the basket the hood detaches and it can be used to hold toys.

There was also enough left on the gift certificate so that she was able to order this cute Sevi Tambourine for my grandson, so that also got a treat! He's almost two years old so making music is a fun activity for him and I'm sure he'll enjoy dancing and marching to his music DVD's while he plays his tambourine!

Thanks so much Penny!  I enjoy your blog so very much and it was excitng to win your give away! You've helped me to give some early Christmas presents to my family.  If you love fluffing your home to make it a warm and inviting place you'll love visiting Penny's The Comfort of Home blog as she shares to most delightful decorating tips and crafts. She also is a supreme mosaic artist and you can see her work on her fabulous Lavender Hill Studio blog. You may find an unique handcrafted mosaic gift for someone special there!

Business Projects Photo Safari Weekend

 The Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle.

As I mentioned on my main blog I won a fabulous give away from the blog NYC, Style and a Little Cannoli for a weekend Photo Safari workshop walking tour of areas in New York City with the help and instruction of a professional  photographer.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower

Miguel Gomez was the professional  photographer that accompanied our group.  He has worked for numerous clients that commissioned personal projects in Great Britain, the U.S.A., Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Costa Rica and Colombia. As an active member of the photographic and artistic community, Miguel’s work has been exhibited in several galleries and is part of private collections.

A view from  inside the Time Warner building of Columbus Circle.

The safari is intended for participants with beginning to advanced amateur skills and will include visit to locations such as City Hall, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, among other stops and visits. Our group concentrated between the Columbus Circle area and Central Park in Manhattan.

A view from Central Park of the famous Dakota cooperative apartment building.

It was nice to meet Rosemary of NYC, Style and a little Cannoli blog. Rosemary visits NYC often and loves to show the variety of wonderful stores to shop in, and places to stop to have a delicious dessert, when you visit the city.  I'm sure you'd enjoy visiting her blog!

A large boulder inside Central Park.

Our instructor, photographer Miguel Gomez, focused on composition, lighting ideas and exposure, as some of the topics we covered during our class.  All the photos in this blog post were taken by me during the class and were reviewed and critiqued by Mr. Gomez as to how they could be improved and I learned quite a bit from him.

The Sheep Meadow in Central Park

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

Although I have a DSRL Nikon  D 60 camera, I have been reluctant up to now to use it off its automatic settings and Mr. Gomez showed me how to switch to manual and adjust my lens and light settings to achieve the results I wanted. A few examples of that can be seen in the following series of photos taken inside an ornate walkway in Central Park.

Photo taken on automatic settings.....

..and now on manual settings. Notice how more light enters the photo and the edges of the room can be seen more easily?

Two more photos examples of using the manual camera setting and experimenting changing settings. The inside of this walk way is quite dark and using manual settings allowed my camera to catch all available light, yet remain subdued in effect.

I was excited to learn to take more chances with my camera and to learn how to frame my photos and use the rule of three with outdoor compositions. Miguel was easy to work with and gave us a wealth of information about how to care for our cameras and what to look for in buying additional lenses according to what type of photographs we like to take.

We concluded day one of our instruction with a late lunch, where we met another photographer, John Corrado, who specializes in food photography.  He gave us valuable tips and insights into styling food photography shots.

Here are two food photos, above and below, taken on manual camera setting of two of the delicious entrees we had that day at The Brooklyn Deli where we had lunch!

All in all I had a wonderful experience and would highly recommend the Photo Safari workshops to all as a fun and informational way to learn how to take great photos that you can use on your blog or personal collection while seeing some of the fabulous sights of New York City!

Please visit my main blog MILLE FIORI FAVORITI where I blog about the places I visit and the events I attend in New York City! It is the greatest city in the world and there is always something fun going on!

Special Thanks

I won the opportunity to chose a fabulous authentic Venetian Carnavale Mask from the web store 1001 Venetian Masks.com from a give away Joe, of the wonderful blog Italyville, held on his blog.  The winner of the give away was presented with a $50 gift certificate. 

There are many wonderful masks on 1001 Venetian Masks.com, and it was not an easy choice, but there was something about this traditional red, black and white Nazo Turko Mask which made me feel it was one of the more mysterious and unusual masks, and one that would stand out in a crowd! Don't you agree?

Thank you Joe!  Please visit Joe's blog Italyville where he, in his words: "writes about growing up Italian in Massachusetts, his experiences living and working in Bologna, visits to the family's Olive farm in Calabria and everything along the way."  I particularly enjoy his authentic Italian family recipes.

This is my review blog for give aways and contests.  

Please return to my main blog Mille Fiori Favoriti to read more about my main topic: Life in New York City!

My Blogger's Cup Really Runneth Over!

I have some exciting news to share, but first I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! We celebrated Mother's Day earlier in the week with my Mom, as my siblings who live out of state were able to come in for a visit to New York on Wednesday and Thursday. It was wonderful for all of us to be together and I know my Mom especially appreciated it.

My exciting news is that My blogger cup runneth over lately as I've won two wonderful surprises on two different blog give aways!

I won this beautiful painting by California artist Erin Houghton on a blog give away by Kelee Kadillac on her blog The Katillac Shack -- DIY Inspiration For Home & Life.  Isn't it beautiful?  It is 18 x 24 inches in size and bright and cheerful.  I have it hanging in my spare bedroom right now and it brightens the whole room and makes me smile every time I see it.

Kelee was having the painting give away as a way to encourage her readers to send an uplifting card or a healing thought or a prayer for a woman named Collette who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.  Kelee is an artist, designer, author and a creative therapist and is also the House and Home Expert for Guideposts Magazine.  Through her non profit initiative "Design Gives Back", she volunteers to do room makeovers for those in need, and Kelee was in the process of making over Colette's room to help uplift her spirits as she faces her battle with cancer.

Erin Houghton who also has a delightful blog called The Painted Garden volunteered to create a painting especially for Colette's "Miracle Makeover" room, and Kelee also sponsored a painting give away.  I was the very lucky winner!

Thank you Erin and Kelee!   Please visit both of these wonderfully creative artists and be inspired!

Now for my second wonderful surprise.....do you recognize this man?

He is celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito!  He is part of a Bertolli Foods campaign, and together with Marisa Tomei and Dan Cortese, have been part of advertising videos taped in small towns in Tuscany as part of a feature called "Into the Heart of Italy" for the classic Mediterranean frozen pasta meals. 

I won a trip to Los Angeles, California to meet Rocco DiSpirito!

I am still pinching myself trying to believe that I won this trip as a give away on Claudia's blog Journey Of An Italian Cook on Friday!  Claudia and I will receive an all expense paid trip (transportation, meals and hotel) to L.A., which includes a Celebrity Chef Event with Rocco DiSpirito and a culinary tour of the City of Angels, all courtesy of Bertolli Foods! 

Thank you, Claudia,  I can't wait to meet you! Please visit Claudia's blog and see all her wonderful culinary creations.  Claudia is also the Italian Food Guide for the Minneapolis Examiner.

I am so excited, and thankful for all the positive and fantastic surprises that blogging has lead my way in the past few years, and all the wonderful people I've met through it.

When I return I'll be blogging all about our trip, and I'll also be doing my own blog give away, so stay tuned!