Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr ended on Nov1st 2009 and one image No Pesky Neighbours Here was rated a few points higher than the rest.

This quirky snapshot gleaned 93 total votes to finish with a rating of 8.7 from 20 registered votes (and 7.2 from 73 popular votes).

Mommakoala wins $200 gift certificate from Kanetix Insurance & Mortgage Rate Quotes.

Mommakoala is a 50 yr old nurse in Hamilton, Ontario who likes to photograph unusual landscapes.  She’s presently on a mission to lens all 126 Waterfalls in and around the Hamilton Wentworth area (and all up the Niagara escarpment) . This is a big adventure on her part, and I expect we’ll see more of her work on Lenzr in the near future.

The winning photo was taken when Mommakoala was with her family, enjoying the sights on the 1000 Islands boat cruise in Gananoque Ontario in August 2008. This was one of dozens of images that she snapped on that trip. But there’s something about the image thats timeless and she knew it was the best possible submission for this photo contest. She was right.

Overall, the Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr was a huge success. There were over seventy five images from all across Ontario – we saw Wasaga Beach, St Lawrence Market and several shots of the CN Tower and Niagara Falls. My personal favourites include The Big Nickel, Huskie the Muskie, the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and Old Fort Henry in Kingston.

Second place reward was $100 and this went to member Slimmswitch for his submission called Ottawa – The Spider City.  Early on in the competition this image had the highest rating, and it was the clear favourite to win – it’s interesting to note this picture has almost twice as many votes, but a slightly lower rating.

Slimmswitch, who donated the colouful self portrait seen below, did a great job using the 140 character caption to really sell the originality of his photo composition.  He writes in the description, Located in Ottawa , if you stand under this huge spider and look up you can actually see they put fake spider eggs inside the structure??

TIPS: Participants that upload images to Lenzr should always make their caption as long and colourful as possible.  It should contain ideas that are counterpoint to the subject of the picture.  In Lenzr photo contests, the most important thing is to make your submissions more interesting than everyone elses. Your pictures don’t have to be technically superior, or more aesthetically beautiful, but rather more charming, quirkier and ‘storyfull’.

Occasionally people email me to complain that certain pretty pictures are not ranked higher, or fail to appear in the top 10, while other,  inferior images are ahead of them. This would be frustrating, but its important to remember that sometimes the most technically perfect and aesthetically pleasing pictures are also the most boring.  In Ontario Tourist Attractions we all watched as two wacky images pulled away from the rest of the pack to finish as prize winners.

As I write this update, the fourth Lenzr photo contest has less than two days remaining; interest is piqued as eighty new members watch its dramatic conclusion.

Ontario Tourist Attractions has collected over seventy photos which have together amassed over 2500 registered votes, and over 10,000 popular votes – the website now averages over 200 visits per day.

Here is a spectacular shot of St Lawrence market by a Lenzr member named ianduncanmacdonald. Thank-you. I love this colourful postcard like image because in the bottom right corner you can see the Flatiron Bldg which is another tourist mecca.

The Big Nickle was submitted by sj_gb who delights the admin by linking to a personal photography blogspot in the designated area in the user profile.

This contest was designed as a search for pictures that celebrate of our province’s most interesting tourist and travel destinations, and The Big Nickle is a classic.

Look at these other gems,

Thanks to Lenzr member yuhojun who graced the contest with this shots he calls, Parliment Hill and the caption reads  ‘Parliment Hill at Late Afternoon’. This same member also uploaded this crisp breathtaking shot which only suffers from being a little too ambigious regarding the specific tourist destination theme requirement – but this is a beautiful picture that might otherwise win another contest anywhere… how about Best Cottage Country Photos? This would win I’m sure.

Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr was sponsored by Kanetix insurance & mortgage rate quotes

This photo contest ends 12:01 am on the morning of November 1st 2009.

Two Prizes: both cash prizes. There’s a $200 value first prize, followed by a $100 second prize unit.