What better way to keep your cold ones cold, than by wrapping them up in a PBR koozy? And just in time for the dog days of summer. His and hers, perhaps? Leave a comment about whatever you want, for a chance to win. I’ll digitally pull a number out of a hat late next week to choose the winner. Good luck!

Not too long ago, on JNB, I gave away a canvas pouch by Madewell. Last week, I received some photos of the pouch in action, with its new owner. The winner was Bethany, and as it turns out, she owns a pair of glocks (a 19 and a 26) named Elsa and Gertie. Well, here are the images. I have to say, it looks like a custom fit.

^Elsa

^Gertie

 

 

B, I’m so glad that the pouch worked out. Thanks again for the images!

 

As far as value in dollar amount, this is surely the most valuable swag that I am giving away, so far. Up for grabs is a Manfrotto gear toting messenger bag. This was a promotional take away from a soiree that the brand threw in NYC last month. The bag in the image above is the one that I’m unloading. It is brand new, never used.

I have one that I have also kept for myself. I brought it with me on our recent excursion across the pond. Here are some photos of my bag, to illustrate how great this thing is–

In addition to having a flip top with a clasp and velcro, quick access is also possible through a zippered top. The main compartment has two adjustable padded walls and a laptop sleeve. You could easily fit two bodies and multiple lenses, as well as a strobe, in the main section.

The front of the bag has a zipper pocket that is perfect for holding memory cards, cables and batteries.

As a bonus, the kit includes a pocket tripod. This thing is super cool and pretty heavy duty.

I had this thing locked to the bottom of my camera basically the entire time that we were in Europe recently. It is immensely helpful for composing a timer or remote shot on the fly. It folds up so nice that the extra bulk on the camera body is nominal.

As if that weren’t enough, the lower compartment houses a full height ball-head super light aluminum tripod. If you have ever priced Manfrotto tripods, then you understand the value of this piece, alone. I found that there is enough extra room that I could fit my computer charger and cable in there as well.

Ok, so just to clarify what all is being given away here:

1 Manfrotto bag.

1 Manfrotto pocket tripod.

1 Manfrotto ball-head tripod.

(cameras, lenses and other gear in the photos are not part of the giveaway).

My favorite part about this bag is that it doesn’t really even look like a camera bag.

I feel like this is a pretty cool giveaway. Because of that, I’m going to make the rules a little bit different than previous times. As with the previous giveaways, enter by leaving a comment. In the comment, tell me in what scenario you see yourself using this kit. Flipping it on eBay or CL is not an acceptable response. Before leaving the comment, please use one of the easy share buttons (which I added just for this giveaway) below to share a link to this post on the social network, blogging/microblogging platform of your choice. If you tweet, please drop #jakesnewblog somewhere in the tweet. Enter up to two times, by sharing links in multiple locations. I hope that this isn’t too complicated. Why all of the extra work? Honestly, I’m starting to toy with the idea of monetizing JNB. I’m still not sure if I will ever go through with it. But, I figure that helping me publicize this page seems like a fair trade for a chance to win such a great kit. No?

I’ll close comments and choose a winner toward the end of the month. Probably the second to last week of June. Good luck!

 

I have had this idea for a little while now, that I wanted to try to do a portrait of me, together with the City. It sounds really corny, I know. What better time to do portraits, than when we are both having an “ugly” day, right? Ok, in honesty we have both been having a lot of ugly days lately. I need to get a haircut and some sun, like nobody’s biz. Thank goodness that the vacay is right around the corner. As for the City having ugly days, it’s not really her fault. It is spring. Rain happens a lot in the spring. Despite all of that, it is kind of hot the way that the unfinished 1 WTC disappears into the clouds.

So, NYC and I went into kiddie candids together and asked for some portraits. This is how they came out.

For the most part I’m pretty happy with them. But I want to try it again some time with a different setup. I’ll keep you posted.

Part II of le post–

Linda wins the Rag & Bone x Timberland notebook. Congratulations! This actually makes things very easy for me, since I can just pass it off to Zack tomorrow night.

I’m going to put the giveaways on hiatus for the next few weeks, while I’m out and about. But, I’ll be coming back with a banger. For those who love Italian made photography gear, you might want to get in on this one.

First of all, thank you, to everyone who participated in giveaway no. Madewell. You all gave me some great ideas of what to do this spring. Jenny, I loved your story about Halfdome. Offering to take along the pouch and photograph it at the top was very tempting. Ultimately though, Bethany was the winner of the Madewell pouch. I chose Bethany because after I half jokingly mentioned that a glock would probably fit inside of the bag, she suggested that she actually would put her glock in there. I love it. Congratulations, Bethany, hit me up with your shipping address, and I will get it right out to you.

Up for grabs this week, is a lovely leather bound note book from a collaboration that Rag & Bone did with Timberland last fall. It looks fancy (click on the thumbs above to see just how fancy), and it smells awesome. If you would like a chance to win this notebook, leave a comment about the material that you would like to fill its pages with. Do you draw, write, collect stickers or all of the above?

Good luck!

 

I was too lazy to look back and see what number of giveaway this is. So, just pretend like “Madewell” is a number. This time, JNB is giving away a Madewell canvas zipper pouch. Imagine the things that could be kept inside: pencils; makeup; cards; a glock (probably). As if it weren’t cool enough on it’s own, I can personally vouch for the fact (and can provide signed statements of additional witnesses, upon request) that this zipper pouch spent an entire evening in the same room as the fabulous Alexa Chung. Ms. Chung, in case you hadn’t heard is holding down the cover of the June ’11 British Vogue (don’t feel bad if you hadn’t heard, it just came out yesterday).

To try your hand at this celebrity cootie covered versatile utilitarian little gem, leave a comment about the activity that you can’t wait to do, now that Mother Nature has finally blessed us with warmish weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

I’ll choose a winner at some point next week. Happy commenting.

Even though the image on the right isn’t dialed in as much as I would have liked, I felt like these images were worth posting. They are from this shoot, which I really enjoyed (I especially love the shot of Eddie next to the punching bag).

As for giveaway No.6, thanks to everyone who participated. It seems like there are a lot of people with an opinion about Warhol’s work. It’s always interesting to hear all sides. I randomly chose two winners. They are Dakota and Amanda. So, hit me up with your shipping info and I’ll get them right out to you. I guess whoever responds first can choose which one they would like.

Last night was a soiree to celebrate the launch of the new collaboration between Incase and the Andy Warhol foundation. The setup was awesome. The takeaway were these Incase iPhone 4 cases. I actually grabbed one for Reagan and one for a giveaway. But I realized later that she has a different model of iPhone (and I do Blackberry). So, there will be two winners this time around. Unfortunately these cases are not part of the new Warhol collaboration series, but they are still pretty styley.

So, if you are an iPhoner who would like to score one of these cases for your iPhone 4, let’s talk about art. In honor of the Warhol collab (and the new statue that just went up in Union Square near his former factory), leave a comment about Andy. It could be the first time you heard of him. It could commentary on his work,or whatever comes to mind. The first time that I ever really paid attention to who Andy Warhol was, I was in Jr. high. It was because of a movie called “Ruben and Ed.” The movie is still one of my favs, btw. In the movie, there was an old trailer in the middle of the desert with “Andy Warhol sucks a big one” painted on it in red spray paint. Ruben thought it was hilarious. So did I.

I will choose a winner at some point next week. Good luck!

Ok, first of all– Reagan’s new salon is awesome. I have been there a few times, mostly to pick her up for a dinner date, etc.. Everyone I have met at the salon (including both of the owners) has been super cool to me. The space is beautiful. The decor is fantastic. They even have their own designer scent (FYI, it is nothing like that crap that Abercrombie pumps through its vents). Anyway, Reagan invited me over to her salon on a day when it is closed (Monday, yesterday)  to help shoot a rite of passage for one of her coworkers. When someone crosses over from assistant to stylist, they make kind of a big deal about it (since it is a pretty big deal). The person being promoted organizes a presentation with various models that they have styled. The image above was from the presentation last night. The entire presentation was equally impressive.

Onto the giveaway portion of this post. K, I have to say that I was a little bit amused by the amount of lovely commenters vying for the tote. I guess that dollar value isn’t always the definitive factor when anticipating interest in giveaways. I also learned that apparently a large portion of ppl who read JNB purchase produce from farmers markets and CSAs. Pretty dope. I would just like to take this opportunity to say that I have now been off the Papa Johns for about a week and a half. Reagan and I have bilaterally resolved to try to eat in more often. So, someday I might have the energy to go the extra mile and reduce my carbon footprint and all that. Next– I was generally very entertained/impressed with basically ALL of the comments. Because of this, I once again found myself in a bit of bind while trying to select a winner. The solution? First, I realized after posting gvwy5 that I actually have two of the featured totes. This was only slightly before my sister started hounding me on G-chat with “dude, you gotta give it to Jenn. Did you read her comment?” My reaction was yes and yes. Jenn, it is only right that I float you a new tote to relieve your pretty green one that has led such a valiant life, carrying yahtzee jr and other treasures. I mean, it is Autism awareness month, after all.

For the second winner, I did what any person in my situation would do, and turned to random.org. Bee, I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty glad that “7″ was the number that came up. I can’t tell you how many times I have used my favorite tote to safely transport my after hours footwear. I don’t currently own a pair of Chucks, but I’m glad that you do. I’m even more glad that this tote will facilitate you being able to transport them and rock them at will.

So, Jenn and Bee, please hit me up with your shipping addy’s when you have a free moment and I will have your new tote bags shipped off to you post haste. Also, congratulations.

 

Ok, so it isn’t officially Friday yet (unless you are reading this east of Greenland). But happy Friday, anyway. For me, it couldn’t come fast enough. This week’s giveaway is a tote. It was some swag from the Project NYC fashion trade show. Made by Ecobags, it is built from recycled cotton and it folds up small enough to fit in a handbag for spontaneous trips to the bodega. This is probably the most boring/utilitarian giveaway on JNB, so far. And to be perfectly honest, I have a hard time imagining someone being in short supply of tote bags. But, hey it is from Project, which is kinda cool. Maybe someone’s tote has recently sprung a hole and they need a new one. If you know someone in that situation, make sure to send them a link to this post. Anyway, if you are interested in scoring the Project tote in the photo above, please leave a comment about what you might use the tote for. I have a favorite tote that I use all of the time for carrying around reading material and blackberry #2 during the commute, in the summer when it is too hot and sticky to wear a backpack or shoulder slung briefcase. I could really go for some of that weather right now. Instead, there is snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I’m so ready for winter to be over.

I will choose a winner some time next week. Get some.