This just in: we have new winners for the August-September contest session. But first…

Special thanks to Darren from Spectacle in the Distillery, who graciously lent his aesthetic sense to Lenzr in the judging of our two August-September contests, A Manufacturing Process and Classy Summer Drinks. Spectacle is a funky shop that specializes in designer glasses and sunglasses so stylish they’d tempt someone with 20/20 vision to fake farsightedness.

The A Manufacturing Process photo contest was groundbreaking but not spectacular in terms of participation. It’s the prize structure that rewards three photographs in addition to the grand prize winner that breaks all previous boundaries. Though there were only 16 photos uploaded (due to the extremely specific and highly challenging theme) there was a lively conversation in the comments section. And at the end of the day, it opened some eyes on what it means to boost lean initiatives in manufacturing processes.

Winner: Plasma Torch by crazyhbx

Runner-Up: Parts by miguelesquirol

Here’s what some of the judges had to say about the winning shot:

“Nice catch! Capturing this image is not an easy feat. The blue-purple hue adds to the image.”

“This picture is captivating, not only for the colours and the clarity but also for the action.”

“I love the purple colours, lens flare and the comet tail–it really shows the machinery in action.”

Congratulations, crazyhbx, you’ve won the $250 prize and photo licensing agreement with the contest’s lean manufacturing sponsor!

Three other photos, selected by the sponsor, win $75 and photo licensing agreements, and they will be announced as soon as possible.

Thanks to all the Lenzr users who participated and especially to those who flagged users who may be foreigners (which is contrary to contest rules). One chap named InTheSpot1 turned out to be a nice guy from Pennsylvania, and he replied to my polite inquiry with the following email:

Mr. Campbell,
First off, I love the website! I love the photos that I get to take for work and was so excited to see two contests that catered to my type of photos that I did not read the terms of use as closely as I should have, only the rules. I am sorry for any trouble this may have caused. I understand you will have to remove the images from the website. I would love to be featured on your blog. We have a long and interesting story, detailing an ongoing journey of small town manufacturing. I will get you some new photos and an approved write up. Once again, even though I won’t be able to enter I look forward to watching the site and voting! Have a great day!

Do you happen to know of any websites like yours in the states?
Jason Sakal

Sadly I had to delete Jason’s pics and I didn’t even save them before I deleted them because I reckoned he was going to send more. He hasn’t yet, but if he does I will post them here.

Bill Watson, the legendary ve3bnw on Lenzr and veteran Judge, who runs a wicked cool aerial photography service emailed me and submitted photos privately, which are excellent, and which I will display here:

One of these will be licensed to Solarsoft as well to pay homage to Bill Watson who has always been such an avid supporter of Lenzr.

Next,

Onyx Containers:

The Classy Summer Drinks challenge was perfect for food and beverage  photographers to shoot a delicious looking alcoholic drink (or a non alcoholic drink) in summertime conditions, and serve up their picture with a dash of story.

Winner: Berry Fizz by seattledredge
Runner-Up: Caesar to Please by kevyn2992
Here’s what some of our judges had to say about the winning photograph:

“Seattledredge’s picture is simple, clear. My eyes were returning to it constantly and as tammyschmidt wrote, ‘I really want to drink it.’ Alluring.”

“Great job with its simplicity. It gives all attention to the drink, which is what is needed in this. The colours pop out at you, and who doesn’t love a great blueberry drink in the summer? It’s nice and bright, colourful, and makes me want to grab one and drink it myself.”

“Cool, fruity and effervescent, this drink is sure to refresh on a hot summer day.”

Congratulations to seattledredge, you’ve won $400 in stainless steel kitchenware and ice cube trays courtesy of our sponsor. And congratulations to everyone else who participated in this contest; in terms of photo quality, this may have been Lenzr’s most successful photo contest ever!

Who are these Lenzr Judges that pick from the Top Ten groupings in all four July August Contests? Why should they get to decide the winners? If you read this blog from the start, you will comprehend a two year account of an ongoing evolution toward a truly democratic photo contest website. We keep changing the rules as we go along to try and ‘evolve’ a totally fair arena that’s fun and exciting for everyone – adding ideas like delayed voting and making comments count for points etc have all worked to make the site more interesting and honest. In the beginning, we tried to host and maintain a purely user ranked victory mechanism, but that of course was subject to excessive gaming and vote hoarding. Now we have Eight Judges who pick from the Top Ten and the quality of winning images has dramatically improved, and its more fair for the members (who can get their submitted images to rise to top 10 in the index*).

Its with some pride that myself the rest of us here at Lenzr Corp can wash our hands of the responsibility of actually picking the winners. We have no say in it. But we are responsible for making sure that Judges’ votes are properly recorded, and everyone is kept updated on who the Judges actually are..? And we’re proud of our judges cause they’re all pretty cool.

Here’s a terrible composition, my own work, that shows the rough outline of five of our Lenzr Judges,

We haven’t heard from Marc Gendron , the guy on the end,  the proprietor of In The Eye of the Lens yet, so we are not sure if he is still a judge or not? Considering the job doesn’t pay anything except honour, which is obtained in blog posts like this, it’s not surprising that busy people drop out of the program. It’s okay Marc – just let me know, so that you can go back to being a participant and maybe winning some merchandise in Sept. There’s going to be some cool contests launching on 1st September 2011, or shortly thereafter.

On August 25th four photo contests will close to voting and the membership will wait as the Lenzr judges pick their two favourites from the Top Ten images in each contest.

August 2011 Lenzr Judges

1) Bill Watson owner of a cool aerial photography business with very affordable prices.
2) Debbie Watson aka Mommakoala, is still tied in first place with an expanding core of Lenzr members who share the honour of having won four photo contests.
3) Taku Kamabe, previous Lenzr winner and art director for trade magazines and websites.
4) Richard Carmichael is back for another round of Judging. He’s a busy guy with his work at Frank Ideas and Execution and his full time job as a father of three and editor in chief at Heads-Up Dad. But he remains committed to Lenzr
5) Gregory White of Gregory White Photography – thanks for you help last session.

And now, introducing,

6) Adrian Fiebig

Ignore the pretentious profile picture – its all he had. Adrian Fiebig is a cool guy. He has been working as a freelance photographer for the last 25 years. Born in London, England, his work has taken him to many parts of the globe including London, Cape Town, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam, and Toronto. He met Rob Campbell while waiting for the rain to stop out front of Archeo restaurant in The Distillery District the same day / storm in which rob shot the highly acclaimed YouTube video entitled, Sudden Rain Shower interrupts The Distillery Tenants BBQ on Monday 15th of August.

Adrian’s experience, skills and creativity contribute to his lasting success in the fashion industry.

Adrian has shot professionally for a broad range of advertising, catalogue, and editorial clients including BMW, ING Direct, Harrods, Marks and Spencer, Jaeger, Burton Group, Weller, Clairol, L’Oreal, Cover Girl, Revlon, Procter and Gamble, Sony and Labatts. Catalogue clients include Sears, Hudson’s Bay Company, Empire Stores, and Gratons. Editorial clients include Cosmopolitan, Company, Seventeen, Options, Woman’s Own, Good Housekeeping, Living, Hairdressers Journal, and Flare.

And finally,
Donna Dolphy has agreed to let me shoot a video of her picking her favourites in all four contests, including her own match Haircuts and Hair Styles which has a large amount of pictures. The Top Ten is interesting, but not for the haircuts. We intend to shoot the video right inside Donna’s Yorkville salon so viewers can get a sense of this fascinating woman inside her castle. Its a very social place and we all love her energy.

And so that’s all eight judges, if you count Marc Gendron. I haven’t given up on him yet.
Good luck for all participants that managed to get shots in the Top Ten groupings. I remind readers that we are working on counter measures to prevent one or two members from dominating the Top Ten and we hope to have these in place before Sept 15 or Oct 15 at the latest.

As the administrator of Canada’s busiest serial photo contest website, I meet a lot of innovative shutterbugs, art directors, designers, photo editors, and online magazine owners. When I come across people that I think are really interesting, I usually invite them to become Judges on Lenzr.  Do you know someone who should be a Judge? email Contact at Lenzr dot com
Here’s a complete List of the Lenzr Judges on board our panel ready to be the final arbiters in the four April / May 2011 challenges,

1.    Marc Gendron  of  In The Eye of The Lens
2.    Chris Kovacs  of  Adore Noir black and white online magazine
3.    Matt Zielinski -  of  Canadian Photographer online magazine and discussion forum.
4.    Jacques Surveyer – Canada Blog Friends profile, Pics of Canada

New Judges,

1.    Taku Kumabe aka Smaku, world class art director and recent Lenzr prize winner
2.    Bill Watson -  aka Ve3bnw, owner of a cool aerial photography business
3.    Debbie Watson – otherwise known as Mommakoala, veteran Lenzr participant
4.    Richard Carmichael of FRANK Ideas and Execution

Chris Kovacs, Adore Noir

Chris Kovacs is the west coast photographer behind Dark Shutter who recently started his own mass media project, Adore Noir black & white photography magazine to celebrate new and outstanding b&w photography. The journal is a high-quality online publication of fine art photography, and a source of inspiration to photographers and other individuals interested in the niche.

Marc Gendron runs In The Eye of The Lens

In the eye of the lens is start-up discussion forum about photography made by friends for friends. Its brand new and just finding its feet and Lenzr hopes to foster growth. We know what’s its like to start out with a new idea and nothing else… starting a web property is like settling new land and planting new crops, but instead of axes and shovels we’re using keyboards and command code.

Matt Zielinski runs Canadian Photographer

Matt Zielinski  runs Canadian Photographer magazine and discussion forum.

Taku Kumabe is an art director

Taku Kumabe recently won the Making Green Power photo contest on Lenzr and received a portable solar generator as reward. He’s very happy with this prize because it nicely compliments his double life as outdoor adventurer and road warrior.

Taku is a traveler and respected art director for a trade magazine. He is very good at his job, but loves to get away and unplug…  Of course now he’ll be plugging into his new Escape 150 Solar Power Generator to charge his many devices. The device supplies power via USB, 12V and AC outputs.

Bill Watson, aerial photography

Bill has enjoyed photography for over 40 years. His multiple interests in the art form led him to become a very versatile photographer that’s good at getting effects and really good at moving the camera… Currently, Bill likes to shoot landscapes, and wildlife he finds therein. He likes candid shots, but executes portraits and commercial product photos too.  Bill has every reason to be confident and even proud of his abilities – he’s combined his two passions; 1) his love of aviation (he’s a licensed amateur pilot) and 2) photography have merged into a new artform, Remote Control Helicopter Aeriel Photography.

Bill and his wife Debbie (Mommakoala) both view photography as the ability to capture fleeting moments of life that can be enjoyed and treasured for decades to come.  Bill Watson is the owner of very cool aerial photography business.  This mad scientist’s high angle pictures have been featured in the Hamilton Spectator, Toronto Sun, Fallsview Hotel Niagara Falls, Snap Hamilton, and Daily Planet (… hey, isn’t that where Clark Kent works?).

Bill Watson  is the prolific Lenzr member Ve3bnw and with much applause here in the office, he’s been appointed as Judge in the upcoming session . Years ago he won a Blackberry Bold smart phone in the Crowded Places photo contest. I’ve been on Bill’s side ever since he tagged along with his wife Debbie on her Locaboire wine tour prize package; Bill took great shots of the wine ladies at the local Prince Edward Co wineries we visited that day.

Debbie Watson is Mommakoala

Mommakoala is a veteran contester and participant – she has a dedicated following and a good eye for pictures. She’s the judge that’s been promoted to Lenzr nobility ‘from the ranks’, if you will.

You might remember seeing Debbie on Lenzr last month in the Unlikely Marriage photo contest. I find this picture doubly ironic that Bill Watson her husband would submit it.  These two make quite a pair!

Debbie is a health care worker in Hamilton and multiple Lenzr contest winner. She’s won three contests.  Debbie won a Locaboire wine tour, 50 lbs of chocolate from Chocolicks, and $200 gift certificate from Kanetix. (She’s tied with Slimmswitch for being the winningest member) .

Debbie maintains the Canadian National Autism Foundation (CNAF) blog and that’s a good cause. She’s got a big heart.

Richard Carmichael of FRANK  Ideas and Execution

Richard is a creative guy with a business brain. He’s a web designer, team builder  and problem solver.

FRANK Ideas and Execution is a no-nonsense interactive marketing and social media strategy boutique.

Prior to establishing Frank, Richard spent ten years sharpening his teeth as Creative Director at Creative House in Toronto where he did some excellent work for an impressive assortment of top tiered companies like CIBC, Club Monaco, Edward Jones, McMillan Binch, Nelvana, Revlon, and YTV.

More recently, Richard has been spearheading Frank’s migration into the realm of Web 2.0, social networking, analytics (SEM) and the possibilities created by next generation social innovation technologies. His mission is to identify the opportunities inherent in everything he sees, bring progressive ideas, innovative technologies and talented people together to connect and engage, affect positive change and create a better, smarter and healthier world.

These are the Lenzr Judges, ready to do their jobs on May 25th when they have to pick the very best pictures from four different Top Ten groupings.

There was some  controversy at the end  of the May June 2010 photo contests, but the  official results in the Lenzr machine are as follows:

Crowded Places had the most participation with 46 PHOTOS UPLOADED | TOTAL VOTES 1828.

Ve3bnw Bill Watson wins the brand new Blackberry Curve courtesy of Innate Media Group for having submitted the first place photo in the Crowded Places photo contest. Bill’s aerial photo of the Rockton Worlds Fair is quite interesting and was well received, collecting 270.2 points, the most in category.  The image was clearly taken from the sky, and so is most likely a product of Bill Watson’s remote controlled helicopter gunship and budding aerial photography business. This smart phone will certainly come in handy for the high flyer.

50 Going On 15 was won by Mommakoala, AKA Debbie Watson, Bill Watson’s wife. This long standing member of Lenzr is a Hamilton resident and part time nurse and passionate photographer. She takes imaginative pictures and has a knack for writing good titles and captions. Her ‘No Pesky Neighbours’ photo won the first Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr on November 1st 2009.

Portable Luxury was won by Seattledredge when Mommakoala’s photo was deleted by admin with only 15 minutes left in the competition.  It was indeed an ugly finish to what had been a close struggle. This strange but not unwarranted eventuality is explained in great detail in What Happened to Mommakoala’s Candy Stash? The account proferred along with an apologetic  explanation and rare glimpse into the world of the Lenzr admin. Remember we are all trying to achieve something that has never occurred before, a perfectly democratic contest community where business sponsors art.

The contest itself collected a lot of very strange and amusing ideas relating to our human notions of luxury, and what it means to move your comfort zone. There were 17 PHOTOS UPLOADED | TOTAL VOTES 680.  The Portable Luxury photo contest started late and that’s why the numbers were relatively low, but the prize is the greatest gift that has ever been shared by the site admin on the behalf of Lenzr’s most generous sponsor to date.

Seattledredge plus one guest have won three days and

two nights in Las Vegas courtesy of a portable toilet rentals business in Toronto ItsMyPotty.com

Three new photo contests will launch July 10th 2010. They will be subject to a new voting ritual. A change is occurring whereby pictures are collected and displayed until the last two weeks of the contest, when votes are collected. This levels the playing field for photographers and professional contesters.  Please read more about the new Lenzr voting mechanisms in the next post.

May June contests come to a conclusion, with one strange upset…

Another unusual chapter in the story of Lenzr has been written today. An unprecedented event occurred at 11:45pm on June 30th, 2010. Mommakoala’s image, My Candy Stash was eliminated from the competition. The correction was made by admin.  The result of their decision makes her ineligible to win the Portable Luxury photo contest, and the Las Vegas vacation prize for which she has been campaigning in multiple social networks for a month.

Debbie is upset, Bill is furious, but Lenzr has to be fair to all members.

As everyone knows this blog is connected to a serial photo contest website that issues new challenges every sixty days. Its the only indy photo contest website of its kind, and as such it has developed a core following of veteran contesters that dominate each challenge and sub-divide the spoils. These individuals scour other social networks recruiting votes and promoting their work, and this activity is encouraged by admin. That’s right. We like it when that happens. When contesters put the message out on their own social platforms it compounds the quality and distribution of the marketing.

However, Lenzr website admin must also guard against proxy IP vote fraud and multiple domain registrations for / by which the only activity is voting perfect 10s for specific images from specific members (and voting 1 for everyone else) We can see when that happens.

Although Mommakoala’s My Candy Stash was the only photo removed in this session, almost all of the photos uploaded by just about every member have red flags attached to them in Lenzr reports; they are being flagged for some terms of service violation or another, by both humans and the filter. And that’s understandable because its just the way the votes are collected…

WHO’S TO BLAME? Because the abuse is so widespread across the entire database we have to believe that individual contesters themselves are not really responsible for the methods and passion of their friends, or strangers who might otherwise seek to disqualfy them.

Its a strange web we weave when we invent and launch a ‘democratic photo contest website’ made ‘by the people for the people’ wherein admin has ALMOST no control.

Remarkably, Seattledredge’s Portable City had no such red flags or suspicious activity. It appears to have collected 330 points in a most organic fashion. Admin had to act here, to be fair to Seattle and reward her for submitting some very pretty images in all three categories.

So a decision was made to reward Seattle’s image over Mommakoala’s submission, and as Admin has no power over the voting algorithm itself, our only option was to eliminate Debbie’s image entirely from competition.

Mommakoala is one of our favourite associations. As you will read in the next write-up, Debbie’s Elton Johnish photo is the winner of the 50 Going On 15 photo contest, and she will collect over 50 lbs of pure chocolate from Choclicks courtesy of TempoToronto.ca

Ve3bnw Bill Watson, Debbie’s husband will reap the Blackberry reward for having submitted the first place photo in the Crowded Places photo contest. I myself, Rob Campbell the Lenzr blogger have offered to host a banner promoting Bill’s aerial photography business in the sidebar of the Lenzr blog.

NOW WE ADAPT A SMARTER PROGRAM where VOTES ARE COLLECTED AT THE END

From July 1st 2010 forward, Lenzr has a new voting ritual. The new procedures will cure all the vote fraud malaise as we together evolve and perfect this social experiment and make it friendlier and fair for everyone that chooses to participate. Comments and queries are encouraged and will be answered directly.

On Lenzr, we like to show off the prize winning photographers that make the site such a special place.

Lenzr member ve3bnw a.k.a Bill Watson, the photographer that uploaded the highest rated image in Macro Photos of Life photo contest sponsored by mobile software developer Shrinkray, eager to visit Eastern Ontario and enjoy his VIP Locaboire wine and breweries tour.

Here is Isabelle Seguin, Lenzr member Seguini the photographer that uploaded the highest rated image in Medicinal Plants in Nature photo contest sponsored by Toronto, Muskoka natural medicine clinic moments after she received her prize in the mail, eight different Neal’s Yard Remedies.