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.

Months after the reward voucher was issued, Debbie Watson of Hamilton Ontario, also known as Mommakoala,  (a formidable contester and multiple Lenzr prize winner) appeared in person at Chocolicks in Toronto to claim an outrageous prize.  She won over 50 lbs of Belgian chocolate and it came as five huge 10lb blocks – each one wrapped up like a big chocolate bar.  She received three milk chocolate bars and two dark chocolate bars, which I believe are unsweetened or semi-sweetened and could be considered antioxidants and therefore not entirely the kiss of death that healthy fifty year old people are looking to avoid. Click photos to expand views.

Outside Chocolicks on the morning of September 10th stands Tina Rogers of Tempo Toronto an online magazine stuffed full of stories and coupons and contests shaped for an over 50 demographic. That age group is hard to target, and even harder to please. Will they be amused by one of their own winning over 50 lbs of Belgian chocolate? Is it like watching a train wreck?

Besides being innovative and entertaining, Tempo Toronto is a very valuable resource for people living in the downtown core of the largest city in Canada.  On these digital pages readers will find good insightful Toronto restaurant reviews, theatre critiques and experiences and write ups on the latest books by bestselling Canadian authors. And of course there are recipes, coupons, links to other contests, and profiles of other cool fifty year old people, musicians and artists and investment bankers.

The 50 Going On 15 photo contest on Lenzr was destined to index the country’s most courageous 50 year old people acting like crazy kids and Debbie won the prize because she showed us a rare glimpse of herself, wearing huge green Elton John glasses and acting outrageous; here’s her Elton Johnish submission. True to form, Debbie started acting crazy again on September 10th after just a few bites of a big bar

Now she can enjoy over 50 pounds of pure chocolate, supplied by Chocolicks, Toronto chocolate located at 573 Eglinton Ave west in the heart of Forest Hill.

You might ask what Debbie plans to do with that much chocolate? We agree, it’s a problem. Perhaps thats why it took her three months to claim the prize. Now maybe she will sit on it for the rest of her life? Whatever the solution, it’s a nice problem to have.

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.