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Long Overdue Update From Lenzr Admin

December 19th, 2010 admin 2 comments

Fingers crossed everyone, Lenzr usually gets real exciting when there is just ten days left in each contest, because when the countdown ends, the voting begins!  At 12:01 am Monday Dec 20th, 2010 the flood gates open and Lenzr will begin collecting human participation in the form of votes and comments. Please remember there are two types of votes.  As near as I can figure the unregistered visitor’s vote is worth about 86% less than a registered member’s vote.

Broken Factories photo contest has twenty six images to chose from, and Canadian Beaches photo contest has over fifty images in the queue. Making it Beautiful has approx thirty good pictures. When viewed sequentially, each contest tells a story -  they reflect all aspects of a subject theme.

Lenzr has a slightly different perspective on photo contests; on this website the picture galleries grow and are presented as an interactive slide-show to the voters. Each contest is a unique story with a beginning, middle and eventually an end – a happy ending for someone. Every day there is a little bit more recorded and the stories grow image by image, vote by vote.

Who will win?

With almost one hundred images in these three galleries it’s hard to say which is the best and which is ‘sure to win’. Indeed there are still more pictures being uploaded every day. Who are all these photographers? They’re not the usual suspects.

Later today, Lenzr admin will be deleting all photos that don’t match each photo contest’s criteria. MAKING IT BEAUTIFUL for example clearly stipulates that the photos must have a subject, somebody or something must be visible actually making something beautiful. Unfortunately a lot of submissions do not have this requirement, and rather than delete them from the index as they were uploaded, I have again opted to do one surgical strike and cleanse the board immediately before voting begins.

here is a collage of photos that were deleted from beauty school contest by lenzr adminIf your photo was deleted…

It was because it didn’t have a subject, a human or animal or extreterrestrial actually making something beautiful as per the contest requirements. Sadly some of the prettiest pictures were deleted. There was close-ups of plants and human haircuts and one shot in particular showed the back of a woman’s head, her hair tied together with a floral bow. It’s worth noting that this is probably exactly the type of content that would most please this particular contest sponsor; Aveda Institute hopes to become more widely known as high quality hair school.

More Photo Contests in February

In February 2011 there will be more photo contests, a lot more. These challenges will run 60 days until April 1st, 2011. At that time something totally amazing will happen – a brand new Lenzr 2.0 will launch in Canada.

Let there be Judges

The February photo contests will be judged by other famous photographers, notable friends of Lenzr, Canadian celebrities, camera store owners, club presidents, and glitterati along with that contest’s individual sponsor – the judges will be listed in the contest descriptions. Collectively the body will decide which of the top ten photos submitted to the competition is the best image, as per the criteria stipulated in the contest description.

Lenzr Lovers don’t Cheat.

Once again Lenzr is poised to watch the scores and protect the people who respect the system. With the introduction of Judges next round its hoped the quality of the submitted images will improved, as will of course the winning image.  Its also hoped the drive to cheat and be number one will also be diminished.

Over the holidays our staff is on guard to help safeguard healthy competition, and this time we have even better tools, and smarter proxy IP blockers. In the last twenty days we’ve moved the website to a dedicated server and have built even more impressive additions to our firewall. These improvements should really frustrate cheaters. Now it will be real hard to use a proxy IP websites to get fresh votes, and all phoney email address providers have also been blocked. In addition to the firewall security upgrades, we also have sophisticated scanner set to report shady behavior. In the unlikely event that cheating does occur, the perpetrator’s voting patterns, destination address, source information, technical interface relationship data and even more information can be gleaned and scrutinized.

So let’s go over some FAQs about the rules again…

What is Allowed?

Telling your friends to come and vote for your photo is absolutely allowed. Telling them to vote unregistered and then register as members to vote again is allowed. Voting for yourself from another computer is allowed. But using the same PC routed through a 3rd party network or conduit is not allowed and will be blocked / detected. Using mobile phones to visit and vote from many locations is undesirable, immoral, and kinda scary cause we don’t know how effective we can be stopping that just yet. I want someone to write me or tell me in the comments how to stop that. What value are comments in Lenzr scoring? Comments used to have real value in the Lenzr vote algorithm, now they have less weight, but they do serve to show administrators that the member has real friends who like the picture.

Is Lenzr just a popularity contest?

Yes right now and for the last time this photo contest website could be described as an image driven social media popularity contest – the prize winner will probably have the most friends, and indeed have the strongest loyalty among friends. This in itself is rather honourable, but ultimately we are building a user driven photo contest website and not friend collector reward program.  We’ve got to bring it back to the pictures.  That said we know what we have to do and are doing it – next contest sequence will have judges, and then a whole new ballgame will appear online in march 2011, fingers crossed.

Water On Skin Winner Seattle Dredge Scores Grand Prize of $500 Skin Care Products

December 15th, 2010 admin 1 comment

On the 10th of Dec 2010 Melani Chong of The Soyaboutique met Seattle Dredge the winner of the Water on Skin photo contest on Lenzr.

While Lenzr admin took pictures and made notes, Melani Chong of the Soyaboutique natural skin care gave Seattle Dredge over $500 worth of organic soy beauty products

Top three images from Water on skin photo contest on Lenzr for natural skin care

Seattle’s picture The Dive won the contest. There were 28 pictures uploaded and 338 votes.

She also talked a lot about natural skin care products and generously donated one hour of her knowledge and dozens of valuable beauty tips specific to these innovative, organic products.

Beautifying Prize Winner

Soyaboutique natural skin care products prize for Lenzr, Seattle Dredge $500Seattle Dredge was delighted to win the $5oo dollars worth of Soyaboutique products. Although Seattle has relatively youthful looking skin, she received all natural skin care moisturizer that is a organic serum and comes complete with the hydrators people have been requesting. Seattle was encouraged to use the moisturizer to preserve her younger looking skin and keep it wrinkle free in the future.

Melani Chong consults Seattle Dredge Melani helped Seattle come up with her own skin care routine. The products will certainly help her keep that young and healthy looking appearance even when she travels. These green water based cosmetic products were made for women of all ages and skin types. When you hear the sound of the “pop” on the SoySilk can – know that it’s a unique designed  lid that helps ensure its clean and sludge-free.

Seattle definitely had thoughts of other ladies in her life that would benefit from these natural beauty products and their straight forward simple use. The prize package consisted of aromatherapy healing balm. If you are tired and want to boost your energy these products will also help boost your immune system. Enclosed in the Lenzr contest prize was also was cream cleanser, which compared to grandmas cold cream is very gentle. Make no mistake this is a tear free foaming cleanser, emulsive cleanser, and is indeed an “instant face Lift” – tightening serum, repairing serum. Its a spray toner which is a mildly scented refreshing spray that is a fantastic disinfectant for yoga mats and other equipment. These vegan cosmetic products are sometimes milky in colour. Not to worry, these cosmetics are not clear due to the natural qualities. It’s like keeping the pulp in your juice. The nutrients such as vitamin C remain.

Products That Heal

Lenzr prize winner, Seattle dredge, Melani Chong, Soyaboutique, Rob Campbell,

Some of the other things included in seattledredge’s prize package was a series of healing products from their line for sensitive skin. The hypersensitive cleanser and moisturizer are hypo-allergenic and great for younger looking skin without causing irritation. The latter is more of a serum, to be applied at night while the skin repairs itself. It provides maximum hydration and won’t clog pores because they’re water-based. With health-savvy shoppers now recognizing that  oil-based products can use cheap ingredients and can damage the skin, soy moisturizer and other natural beauty products have been all the rage. Designed by Donna Bishop, a friend of Chong’s who also designed cosmetics for professional models,  these products are fresh, organic, and natural.

A Simple Skincare Regimen Without All The Fuss

When asked about her skincare routine, Seattle is like many of us – a minimalist with little time to spend on excessive facials. With her hectic days, there will be times when Seattle would just wash her face with water and not remove her makeup. For busy, on-the-go gals like Seattle, Melani recommends the Makeup Emulsion Cleanser, which is great for all skin types and makes life a little simpler by being hypo-allergenic. What exactly does this term mean? It means that it’s unlikely to cause an allergic reaction and because it’s tar-free, non-scented, and very mild, it’s safe enough to use around the eyes.
Seattle can take the healing process one step further by using Soya Boutique’s Aromatherapy Healing Balm. For those long days, this balm’s energizing scent will combat fatigue and boost energy levels, while — get this — also helping to boost your immune system. The health benefits of this product are so impressive that they are even used in some movie sets.

Melani Chong and Seattle Redge smile for the camera as she claims her grand prizeAlthough Seattle already has great, youthful skin, Melani Chong reminded her that she can maintain that youthfulness longer by using serum at night. This helps to lock in the moisture and keeps skin hydrated, which is essential for that youthful, dewy look. Using emulsion serum locks in moisture and tightens the skin – it’s like a face lift in a bottle. While Seattle does not have acne, Chong advises that she can indeed combat that occasional breakout by using a vitamin C serum instead; “it’s a great moisturizer and your skin will drink it up” Melani says.

With a big basket of goodies to bring home, Seattle can either use them all herself or share with her friends; the products are versatile because these water based soy cosmetics are balanced for so many different skin types. Soyaboutique gives each user the power to customize their own skin care regimen.

We hope that Seattle Dredge will enjoy her grand prize and enjoy all the benefits of Soyaboutique’s natural skincare products!

Congratulations to Lenzr’s Five Latest Contest Winners!

December 2nd, 2010 admin 2 comments

Lianne’s Snail Trail wins Lenzr’s Backyard Critters Contest

Snail on nose, young girl wins Lenzr photo contest

Lenzr's Backyard Critters Photo Contest Results

The Backyard Critters contest in November was one of Lenzr’s most popular photo contests yet, with more than 130 contestants and over five thousand votes. Liane‘s winning photo, Snail Trail, captured the hearts of voters with her adorable cross-eyed daughter Isabelle and a nose-occupying snail. It garnered over 637 votes.

Congratulations, Lianne, on winning this popular event. Your grand prize of an Apple iPad is waiting to be claimed. We’re sure that you’ll love your prize as much as Isabelle loves her snails!

Roxxyroller wins Concrete Ideas and Colourful Houses

Worn down building in Cuba, winning photo of Lenzr Concrete Ideas photo contest
“A Beauty of Concrete” for Concrete Ideas

Interesting red yellow and blue building in Cuba, winner of Lenzr's Colourful Houses photo contest
“Colourful House in Cuba” for Colourful Houses

Roxxyroller is the winner of not one but two photo contests this month! She ranked first in both the Concrete Ideas contest as well as the Colourful Houses contest.

The Concrete Ideas photo contest showcased 77 amazing photos with more than 2833 votes that really captured the charm of various buildings, structures, and roads. The Colourful Houses photo contest had over 54 submitted photographs and 2151 votes. With more than two thousand votes on both contests, they proved to be favourites among Lenzr visitors.

Congratulations to Concrete Ideas’ winner, roxxyroller, with the photo, “A Beauty of a Concrete”. The snapshot of a rundown building in Varadero collected over six hundred points. The second winning photo, “Colorful House in Cuba” for Colourful Houses, made the top score of 371.4. Her photo is an interesting shot of a red, yellow, and blue building complex. Roxxyroller, we hope you enjoy your two grand prizes of an Apple iPad!

Heidip’s Beagle Proves to Be Smartly Dressed

Rocco the beagle wearing winter clothes in Lenzr's Pets in Winter Coats photo contest

Lenzr’s third photo contest last month was one that warmed our hearts. Pets In Winter Coats attracted close to 1500 votes among the 19 photo submissions.

The lucky winner is heidip with her photo, Dressed – Prairie Winter, which shows her beagle Rocco dressed to impress in his knit sweater and bundled scarf. It proved to be a fan favourite with a final score of 1017.7 votes.

Heidip, we hope that you and Rocco will enjoy your red electric snow blower this winter.

Seattleredge Takes a Dive With Water on Skin
Girl in dress glides in water, Lenzr's Water On Skin photo contest winner

Lenzr’s Water on Skin photo contest had 28 contestants and over 325 votes. The winning photo belonged to seattledredge, with “The Dive”. Taken in Waterford, Ontario, the image shows the silhouette of a woman gracefully gliding in aqua water. It scored a grand total of 89.5 points, bringing it to the top of the ranks.

Congratulations Seattledredge on winning the grand prize of $500 worth of Soya Boutique skincare products!

A big thank you to all contestants and voters.

Be sure to visit Lenzr.com regularly to follow up on our current and upcoming contests! We currently still have three contests running throughout the month of December, so make sure to check them out!
Lenzr's Photo Contests: Making It Beautiful, Canadian Beaches, and Broken Factories

The above three contests will run until January 1st, 2010 and voting will begin December 20th. Click on the contest template above for more details.

Five Photo Contests End – Five True Winners Revealed

December 1st, 2010 admin 47 comments

Dec 1st 2010 marks a historic time for Lenzr. Membership in this serial photo contest website has grown significantly over the last month; never before have there been such high levels of participation. There have been over 10,000 visitors this month! Look at the spike on Nov 20th when voting began. Saving the voting for the last ten days was a good idea. It certainly has made everything more exciting.

Lenzr overall website analytics for Nov 2010

For the last thirty days there have been eight photo contests running on Lenzr with over $3K worth of prizes to be yielded to winning members. The five contests that ended this morning have inspired over a hundred Canadian photographers to upload and share approx three hundred images. The sponsors are thrilled; their branded contests have attracted a lot of attention in many different social networks and image sharing sites.
But these contests are not without controversy.

At 12:01am on Dec 1st 2010  five Lenzr photo contests came to their natural conclusion. The real winners won prizes and their pictures will be discussed in great detail in another post.  Backyard Critters had over 120 images submitted to the index and almost 7ooo recorded votes. That’s incredible.

There are no new photo contests launching on December 1st.

What does Lenzr most want?

Lenzr is a user generated, user governed arena that showcases amateur photography sponsored by online businesses in full or as part of larger digital marketing campaigns. Its okay to visit and vote, and then register as a member and vote again. Its okay to post solicitations in friend networks and on Twitter and Facebook; that’s encouraged.

It’s not okay to use a proxy email server like Malinator to create multiple profiles from which to vote perfect 10′s for your picture. Its not okay to use proxies to hide-your-IP and issue multiple votes from the same computer within a short period of time.

Regarding vote fraud

Rob Campbell Smojoe created Lenzr in July 2009My name is Rob Campbell and I run Lenzr.com which exists physically in an old warehouse building in downtown Toronto Ontario Canada. I’m not the only stakeholder, but I wear the pants. And I write most of the copy and I make the hard choices, and ultimately, I also make mistakes. But I’m 100% accountable. I stand behind my decisions, and I’m ready to take on all comers.

In the spirit of total transparency I write the following explanations and indeed my sincerest apologies to those curious contenders that were unceremoniously removed from the challenge in the eleventh hour.

Truth is, we were simply not prepared to stop IP proxy vote fraud as effectively as I had earlier believed. It happened in all contests, and it certainly dampened my enthusiasm for an otherwise spectacular session. Instead of being excited by the numbers, I grew apprehensive that there would be more witnesses and ultimately more anger to the unnatural accumulation of votes and the embarrassing demise of three or more contenders. Lenzr tried to be a purely democratic system…  we really did try.

Why delete photos at the last minute?

During the course of the contest it became clear that certain image submissions were being advanced in a fraudulent manner using 3rd party IP proxy services and other connivances. This has happened before on Lenzr and photos have been deleted accordingly. New methods were introduced after September sessions to give better insight into the source of votes, but unfortunately these devices didn’t work to prevent all types of fraudulent votes. On Nov 22nd, Lenzr admin made the difficult choice to continue exhibiting the contests without any interference, rather than issue public statements or email personal warnings or delete photos and ban members as the contest progressed, fearing retaliatory moves which the site was unable to prevent.

The decision was made to make a list of known offenders and remove them with only a few minutes left in the contest which appears somewhat cruel, but makes a lot of sense when it is explained. These people have violated the Lenzr Terms of Service and so their photos can be deleted at any time.

pretty in pink, dogs in winter coats

I chose to remove them from competition when there was smallest window of retaliation. You see we feared they’d use their proxies and bogus accounts to fraudulently affect other people’s submissions.

For example, Pretty in Pink was deleted from the Pets in Winter Coats contest.  This is an excellent example of vote fraud that’s easily detected using even the most basic analytical analysis tools.

Pretty in Pink analytics

Here at Lenzr we have very advanced fraud detection equipment, which I’m not at liberty to show, as well as basic resources like good old Google Analytics, which I can use to illustrate my point here in this blog.

Remember in the Pets in Winter Coats contest there were two highly ranked member submissions doing battle for top position. Above is a picture called Pretty in Pink which had a lot of comments, but they were almost all fake.  Just by using a simple analytics tool, anyone can see that the number one referring site to this photo page was Malinator.com * Please, click the picture, it expands.

The second submission was a near perfect vote solicitation in social media case study – a true win win scenario.

Pets in Winter coats , beagle analytics

Heidi P dog in sweater outside in Canadian prairies

The winner of the contest was Dressed, Prairie Winter which features a beagle in a sweater sitting outside on the prairies – this photo collected friends’ votes from 21 different referring sites including, Facebook followed by SmartCanucks, Twitter, Frugal Shopper, and RedFlagDeals.   This participant worked hard to spread the message.  This member deserves to win the snow blower prize being offered by the sponsor.

Once again I must announce changes to the Lenzr photo contest model.

Starting Jan 1st 2011, all Lenzr photo contests will be decided by a mixture of member voting to bring about a Top Ten grouping from which the winner is ultimately decided by judge(s) appointed by the sponsor and announced at the beginning of the event.

I’ll be the first to admit that this makes more sense. The best photos will make the top ten, and although the commenting and community sharing frenzy will certainly be diminished, cheating should also be reduced.

More information on new IP proxy filters, formats, winners and prizes to follow. Do you have questions or criticisms? Let me know in the comments – we publish all queries and complaints.
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Beauty School Wants Lenzr Members to Make It Beautiful

November 5th, 2010 admin No comments

beauty school, hair for Lenzr , making it beautiful

Making it Beautiful is a very attractive new Lenzr photo contest. This challenge asks photographers to emphasize their definition of beauty, which is rather subjective, while using their photography skills. Its wide open.  Shutterbugs are asked to upload pictures of anybody improving anything – It could be a senior citizen polishing a vintage car or valuable antique garden tractor.  Or, an upload could feature friends painting a masterpiece, or chefs making a delicate centerpiece for a birthday banquet. Anything you consider beautiful will be welcome in this photo contest.

Aveda Institute Canada offers $500 in cosmetics and hair products as a reward to the most celebrated competitor.

The contest launched November 1st, voting begins December 20th. On January 1st, 2011 at 12:01 AM, (moments into the New Year), the person with the highest ranked photograph will win $500 worth of Aveda products.

Aveda prize, hair school, beauty products worth $500

Founded in 1978 by Horst Rechelbacher, Aveda Institute is more than just beauty, it’s a lifestyle.  People choose to live this way. The organization is an eco-friendly market leader that produces sophisticated beauty products that are natural and organic. The organization  offers many different types of training for all beauty professionals, and that includes education for hair stylists, spa advisers, hair salon owners and makeup artists.  At any Aveda hair school you can expect to find eager students that are well trained at the hands of highly experienced, and ‘sensual educators’ who impart truly tactile sensibilities to their students.
myLot User Profile

Canadian Beaches Contest for Bathing Belle Designer Swimwear

November 2nd, 2010 admin No comments

One of the surprise new photo contests Canadian Beaches photo contest for designer swim suit companythat has suddenly appeared on Lenzr in the unexpected November and December session is Canadian Beaches. Although its odd to run a contest about beaches just as we’re heading into winter, the contest is the perfect way to keep the memory of summer fresh in our minds.  And of course this challenge accepts user submitted images of ice cold December beaches too – indeed such pics would nicely contrast the sun baked August sand and surf shots.

This contest will create a giant index of Canada’s best beaches.

Think of Martinique Beach in Nova Scotia, a popular spot for bird-watching and other nature observation, or Long Beach in Tofino, B.C., a key location for surfers.  Wasaga Beach in Ontario is a magnet for tourists on summer long weekends, or Cavendish Beach in P.E.I., renowned for its beautiful red sand.

Bathing Belle designer swimwear Toronto Canadian Beaches

Enter your best photos of Canadian Beaches for a chance to win THREE designer bathing suits!

Submit your best photos of Canadian Beaches, and remind people that our beaches are underrated! You’ll be eligible to win THREE bathing suits from Bathing Belle Swimwear. Started by Danica Salajko, Bathing Belle makes fun, flirty, vintage-inspired bathing suits that come in a variety of cuts and colours. Salajko has been making custom swimwear for the past 15 years, giving her a thorough understanding of a woman’s body and what styles are the most flattering. She designs both bikinis and more one-piece suits, and often adds metallic accents for a more luxurious look.

The Canadian Beaches contest is open to Canadians 13 years of age and older (excluding Quebec) and runs until Jan. 1st, 2011, so start uploading your photos now! Voting begins on December 20th and the contestant with the most online votes will win the prize.
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Broken Factories for Solarsoft Enterprise Resource Planning Software

November 1st, 2010 admin No comments

Broken Factories, win a netbook couretsy of erp software maker Solarsoft

Broken Factories is a Lenzr photo contest that exhibits the urban decay and entropy of America’s crumbling infrastructure. Abandoned industrial plants can be found on waterways and opposite rail lines in weedy industrial parks on the margins of every major city in North America. Although seldom considered beautiful, each empty facility’s broken bricks, rusty pipes and crumbling concrete walls can make very interesting photographs.

Entropy – the manufacturing businesses are gone and now the buildings stand empty, but these properties are not static subjects. The elements inside them are slowly moving back to their natural order. Rudolf Arnheim’s ‘Entropy and Art: 1971‘, an essay on disorder and order, reflects on the physics of all things struggling to return to a balanced equilibrium. His work reminds us that there is subtle but dynamic action in pictures of broken factories.

Pink Floyd Animals, album coverArnheim’s concept was perfectly exemplified in Pink Floyd’s Animals, 1977 album cover art which showed the Battersea Power Station alongside interior shots of smashed windows and broken porcelain fixtures. This coal fired power plant was captured in action, falling to the ground; the black and white pictures amplify the sociopolitical content of the song lyrics.

Submit your photos of broken factories for a chance to win a new Toshiba Netbook!

Pink Floyd Animals shows the entropy of industrial decay

interiors of the battersea power station, out-of-control, depression

In this photo contest, Canadian photographers are asked to try and capture the effect that wind and rain, and children throwing stones have on old buildings. Let’s make art to remind society that factories really are like living things when they are occupied, but will decompose back into the earth when they are dead, closed up, and ‘left to rot’.

Win a Toshiba Netbook courtesy of Solarsoft, an ERP software developer that makes integrated computer-based applications used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. The purpose of good Enterprise Resource Planning software is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization, and even manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

Toshiba Netbook, Lenzr prize, ERP software, SolarsoftThis company makes software for manufacturing, warehouse management and distribution with features designed by industry experts. Their products help drive business performance in sales, purchasing, finance, inventory and manufacturing (MRP). They also specialize in e-commerce and EDI, supply chain logistics and delivery management software.

Upload photos now. Voting begins Dec 20th, and contest ends Jan 1st, 2011, when the highest ranked photo wins the prize.

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Surprise! Three New Lenzr Photo Contests Launch Nov 1st

November 1st, 2010 admin 2 comments

Without warning, Lenzr spawns three new interactive photo challenges which will overlap the five attractions that are currently running on this serial photo contest website. These exciting new competitions are also scheduled to last sixty days which means they’ll end Jan 1st, 2011, and so for three lucky Lenzr members it promises to be a very Happy New Year indeed.

More diverse prizes!

Upload photos now and you could win a Toshiba Netbook, or $500 worth of Aveda cosmetics or three designer bathing suits from Bathing Belle Swimwear. All of these new prizes and sponsors will be detailed here on this blog in the coming weeks

Voting begins November 20th in the five current challenges, which end December 1st.   And voting begins December 20th in the three new contests mentioned above, which end Jan 1st, 2011.

LjCdo rings in with a self portrait behind her iPad prize!

EricC Snags An iPad After Winning Lenzr’s Morning Sunshine Contest

October 25th, 2010 admin No comments

Eric C wins prize sponsored by portable solar power company

Last month’s Morning Sunshine photo contest on Lenzr drew close to 2,500 votes and was an exciting neck-and-neck race right into the final hours.

Of the 45 photos submitted, ljclo and EricC rose to the top of the group. But it was EricC’s photo “Morning Rays”, which showed sunshine being filtered through darkened trees on a country road, that clinched it.

EricC happily claimed his prize — an Apple iPad provided by a portable solar generators company — and said he plans to use his new gadget to develop and test apps with a friend. Seems like a good idea seeing as how Toronto is being dubbed the “new Silicon Valley” in the latest Toronto Life. The magazine said the city is a breeding ground for young techies who want to get into the world of app creation and make big bucks. Best of luck, EricC!

Slimmswitch Claims Two Prizes On Lenzr

October 22nd, 2010 admin No comments

On Weds, 20th October 2010, Rob Campbell of Lenzr met Slimmswitch (Helder H) and his wife CheeslyC at Balzacs, outside the art gallery /coffee shop in the historic Distillery District complex at 55 Mill St Toronto.

On that happy occasion Rob presented Helder with two prizes donated by last month’s Lenzr contest sponsors, a Blackberry Bold 9700 and an Apple iPad courtesy of a Toronto area deck building company.

How does Slimmswitch win prizes in Lenzr photo contests?

Slimmswitch building wall in basement for contest deck building sponsorAfter we handed Slimmswitch the goods,  we asked him about his ‘winning process’.  Much to our collective surprise, Helder told us exactly how he incentivizes friends to come to Lenzr and vote for his images.

Slimmswitch, like so many other Lenzr winners, harnesses a network of ready voters on Facebook, and on Twitter and he even takes the bold step of individually emailing his real friends and acquaintances to ask for their help and participation on his behalf.  And now, long after the contest has ended, he’s still paying them back. When they post pleas for help, he comments and clicks on their written pieces, he spends half an hour a night paying them back with ‘thumbs up’, comments and votes. Its a time commitment to his growing ‘friend network’. Amazing eh?

Helder holds the Lenzr prizes, a Blackberry Bold 9700 smart phone courtesy of Smojoe Social Media Marketing, and a brand new Apple iPad.

How Helder became Slimmswitch?

Years ago, when he first signed up for internet service over the telephone Helder was speaking to phone rep for AOL (America On Line) and he was asked to pick a user name. The handle had to be something other than his real name, and hard pressed Helder looked around his home office for inspiration and found it stamped on the SLIM SWITCH printer switch that channeled information to a series of interconnected printers.

As an AOL user, Helder built quit a reputation as Slimmswitch in online contest forums – this is where he built the network of friends and supporters that help him today.

This is Helder’s third and fourth prize on Lenzr

Helder holds Lenzr prizes from sponsors, deck building, Smojoe social media marketing

Helder has won two prizes on Lenzr before.  Most recently, some readers might  remember that Slimmswitch won the rechargeable battery powered Nueton CE6 lawnmower in the How Green are You? photo contest.  And of course Lenzr members might also remember that these winning pictures really aren’t anything special. And we mean that in the kindest possible way.  But its true, even the most eccentric judges would probably not have selected Helder’s photo(s) as winners  – yet he won.  He won on Oct 1st 2010 because today the appraisal system on Lenzr is a purely numeric accounting program; the greatest number and quality of votes always wins the prize(s).  Sure its easy to game, but only by doing what the sponsors want most; by collecting friends and sending referrals to vote on their images, the individuals promoting their pictures are encouraging participation on Lenzr as a whole.

Now is that fair? Not entirely. Where is the photography art appreciation in collecting friends?

Please be patient with Lenzr. Its growing and getting busier. Soon it’ll be as big as the ocean, and then it’ll be real hard for one contester to colour it purple.  Indeed there’s some mind blowing  stuff coming down the pipe.  We are designing an entirely new social interface that will distribute sponsors coupons while tracking and measuring each user’s honour.  No insight into release date yet … but there is a surprise coming for Nov 1st 2010.