The Kolo Photo Contest is back!

Starting Saturday, May 1, Kolo will announce a new monthly theme on Kolo.com, Koloist.com and Kolo Facebook. Each month, 15 winners will receive a $50 Kolo gift card. Contestants may enter up to 10 photos per month (per theme).

May’s theme is GREEN. Go to Kolo.com by May 31st and upload up to ten of your favorite photos that fit this theme. Monthly winners for “GREEN” will be announced on June 10th.

If you are a monthly winner, you will automatically be entered to win the grand prize of $500 cash and Kolo luxury albums and boxes worth $500 retail. The grand prize and six second-place winners will be announced on Feb. 1, 2011. Winners will be judged by a panel of expert photographers and designers.

Check here and Kolo Facebook for updates and announcements. New themes will be announced on the 3rd week of each month. Monthly winners will be announced on the 10th of the following month. Contest ends December 31st, 2010. For more information, go here.

-Kate

Graduate student Blair Roberts just sent us these photos from the beginning of her three-month trip to Kenya, Africa. Blair is working at the Old Pejeta Conservancy while studying mother/infant survival behavior in certain animals.

Although most of her time is spent in the field, Blair did find a little time to dine in a tree house restaurant, complete with Colobus monkeys hanging from the tree’s limbs. She used her Kolo Essex Travel Book to jot down some quick observations before indulging on some local cuisine (and by local, I mean the ponds out back).

I went into Nanyuki town yesterday to buy groceries and other supplies and to have lunch with friends at Trout Tree. The Essex came along. In addition to using it as my travel journal, the back pocket was useful holding the essentials for my weekly trip to town- shopping lists, receipts, and change for parking in town.

The Trout Tree is an awesome tree house restaurant where they farm their own trout on site. The bar in the restaurant uses the tree trunk as a backdrop/place to hang bottles and glassware (so cool!).

Stay tuned for updates from Blair. You can read more about her adventures, here.

-Kate

Kolo is committed to treating the environment responsibly and constantly tries to better the world in their small way. On Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, Kolo wants to recognize the importance of protecting the environment.

We are far from perfect, but with each passing year we hope that our continued efforts will help improve our environment and promote a positive change.

Here are just a few examples of Kolo’s efforts:

-We minimize direct environmental impact by using chlorine-free bleaching processes to make the paper used in our products. Instead of chlorine we use hydrogen peroxide, which serves as a safe and effective alternative in the paper industry.

-We promote responsible forestry practices by choosing only suppliers who comply with the forest stewardship and Sustainable Forestry Initiative. These manufacturers meet the terms with all applicable laws to protect the environment, workers, and local communities.

-The book-cloth used on our products is made of natural fibers and is fully recyclable. We choose fine European mills that ensure that the production processes of these book-cloths are water-based, without the use of heavy metals, solvents, resins or other toxic chemicals.

More about Kolo's environmental policies here.

-Kate

Sometimes a photo is so thematically important- and so visually versatile- that you can use it over and over again in an album. This shot of a neatly bisected bookshelf looks great on its own; when sliced in half, it creates borders to frame or underline other pictures. On the lower right, the books' spines pick up different verticals in the grid.

Tip from popular book “Photo Album: The Essential Guide to Sorting, Sharing and Keeping Photos.”

Go to Kolo Facebook, "like" us and participate for a chance to win this book chock-full of useful tips.

-Kate

Painter Elvira Bulgakowa’s used a Kolo Newport photo album as a canvas to share her interpretation of the city of Berlin. The decision to experiment with the cover allows the book cloth to add a unique texture to the painting. Also, the black pages offer a sophisticated foundation for her paintings to tell a powerful story.

Before moving to Berlin, Elvira was born in Koenigsberg, Russia. Between 1981 and 2002 she studied at various universities, and as her career progressed, she has managed to leave a strong artistic impression on numerous countries. She has exhibited her paintings in private collections throughout Germany, Ukraine, Sweden and Russia.

To see other Berlin books, go here and here.

Kate