Spring is here, and Canadians everywhere are outside getting ready for nice weather. The more fortunate families are preparing their cottages for precious summertime retreats, away from their jobs, the city and urban life.  Everyone loves to get away now and then, and most of us record our best memories with digital cameras.

Get out your scrapbooks and find your Best Cottage Moments and share images that capture the warmth, refreshing and relaxing memories of cottage life.

There are cottages all over Canada, not just in Muskoka, Ontario

Upload pics of your grandmother kayaking with your niece on the French River, or your uncles playing water polo or catching fish off the dock in Kenora.  Show us children absorbing the fun with no worries of school.   Submit shots of barbecue pits filled with family and friends eating hamburgers, or try to get night shots of fireworks and midnight deck parties against moonlit lakes.

The sponsor is a fantastic Muskoka cottage that’s come to market in a private sale. This spectacular destination was created for families to relax and enjoy nature.   Show us people fishing, reading, and doing yoga on the dock.   Capture the joy that Canadians find in their homes away from home, and write a sentence or two highlighting some details about the event in the photograph.

The Prize is a Sony Cyber-shot® H70  digital camera.

This camera  has 10x (25mm wide) optical zoom lens, 16.1-megapixel, Sweep Panorama Mode, HD Movie mode (720p), 3.0″ LCD, iAuto mode, Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization. It comes with a cool motion detection feature perfect for the cottage life.

Contest Deadlines

The contest begins April 1st 2011 and the voting begins May 15th 2011.  The voting ends May 25th 2011 and the top ten ranked photos will advance to Judges. The contest officially ends June 1st 2011 with the announced winners.

Contest open to all Canadians age 13+ excluding Quebec

Located in Toronto, EcoDeckBuilder is an environmentally sustainable deck building company that uses all manner of green building solutions both on and off their job sites. Their energy efficient trucks pull equipment trailers adorned with solar panels. These solar ‘work units’ are fully equipped with emission free, battery powered tools. The sun’s energy propels the team’s battery powered saws and drills, compressors and other construction devices. These guys really are friendly space age builders with great deck designs and powerful imaginations.

People Building Things photo contest is an old idea that stems from a natural fascination humans have watching other people work, especially if they are building something interesting. The contest reminds us of a story about how the final stages of the CN tower assembly used to stop traffic in downtown Toronto as citizens admired the helicopters installing the uppermost sections of this monolithic structure.

Construction sites are even more interesting when they happen at home, in the backyard, or on the driveway in front of the garage. Show us people building parade floats and fishing boats, or doing an interesting home renovation. Perhaps you have pictures of people building a tree house? or putting in a dock, or constructing a veranda or even building new homes and cottages?

Ontario photographers submit your own pictures of People Building Things and tell us the story behind the picture. Be sure and mention what’s being put together. Tell us all where the picture came from and when, and you could Win An iPad courtesy of Eco Deck Builder, an Ontario deck building company. Voting begins September 20th 2010 and the highest ranked photograph automatically wins the prize when the Contest ends October 1st, 2010. Must be 13yrs old or older to enter, open to all Canadians, excluding Quebec.

Eco Deck Builder job sites are quieter than your neighbours’ pool, and their green building techniques let everyone enjoy nature.