Landscaping is an art form combining aspects of construction with the forces of nature. Lenzr’s timely new contest, Landscaping and Lawn Care, wants to see your submissions of nature as a canvas. Just as a painter blends colour on their palette, so too do skilled landscapers who may plant lavender with its delicate hints of muted green and purple underneath the rich burgundy of a Japanese Maple. Landscaping requires more than just getting on your hands and knees and working with the earth; the aesthetics of a beautiful lawn space require planning as well as pruning.

Colour, along with form, lines, scale and texture, are the basic elements of landscaping. There are many options to consider while planning your backyard oasis: will the plants be local or exotic? Will you incorporate non-organic materials, such as rocks or mirrors, into your space? Will your landscaping design serve a practical purpose, such as thick shrubbery intended to keep at bay the prying eyes of peeping toms?

Your photograph should tell a story to our judges. Why has your subject been designed the way it has? This photograph of a square in Oaxaca City, Mexico shows a plot of agave plants, significant because agave is the ingredient of regional drinks tequila and mezcal, aesthetically pleasing because the spiky appearance of the plant works nicely with the palm trees which share a similar shape. Show us a manicured landscape with a story behind it and you could win!

This photo contest is sponsored by The Grass Cutters, a cutting-edge property maintenance and landscaping company that also has the distinction of being the first clean air lawn service in Canada. The Grass Cutters epitomizes the term ‘lawn care’ with their 100% zero emissions, sustainable lawn care system powered by renewable energy. The Grass Cutters is a company that not only provides a first-class property maintenance service, it also sets a standard that benefits the planet we live on; “We believe that being environmentally friendly should start with your front lawn,” says the company’s website.

The winner of this contest can get environmentally friendly in their own front lawn with $250 worth of battery operated landscaping tools. This is a great prize for gardeners or anyone looking to get their hands and knees into their own little plot of land. Regardless of whether or not your thumb is already green, this is a prize that will make it greener.

This contest begins September 1, 2011. Voting begins October 15, 2011, after which the top ten user-ranked images advance to the Lenzr judges on October 25, 2011. The winning photograph will be announced November 1, 2011.

Lenzr gets even greener in March and April 2010 as they welcome technologically advanced start-ups as sponsors for photo contests.  Forward thinking people are helping Lenzr grow and reach a wider audience.

The How Green Are You? photo challenge hopes to collect one sentence stories and images that display a wide array of useful ideas for the rest of us increasingly environmentally conscious citizens to admire and adopt.  Sharing your wisdom and energy-saving tips here in this photo contest could actually help save the planet.  And we’re excited about what new ideas we might dredge up.

Good examples might include photos of people in expensive suits, carrying briefcases, riding their bicycles to work. Or maybe water powered or wind powered gadgets,  or colourful compost heaps, or photos of recycling trucks compacting plastics.  Even a walk in the woods would constitute green activity. There are so many photo opportunities here, its actually hard to decide on the right approach – so we leave it to shutterbugs to submit their spiffiest shots of whatever green subjects they can imagine.

Be sure and remember to add a detailed caption as good imaginative tag lines seem to be the common denominator in each previous Lenzr photo contest winner’s strategy.

The GrassCutters is quite possibly Canada’s first sustainable grass cutting business. The company uses electric lawn mowers powered by clean renewable solar energy produced by large panels mounted on their trucks and trailers! See the picture above that’s so cool it just might win any photo contest.  The set up is sure to attract the attention of your neighbours.  The enterprise reduces the need for fossil fuels and makes cutting grass very quiet, clean and more sustainable than anyone else on the block.

The business is competing against some other very notable competitors in the 2010 Green Innovation Awards in which the City of Toronto will invest up to $50K in the winner’s project.

How Green Are You? photo contest on Lenzr ends May 1st 2010.

On May 1st the highest ranked image as decided by the members wins a Neuton CE 6 Battery-Powered Mower with DURACELL® battery technology. There is no gas or oil to spill and no engine emissions to pollute the air. The 360 watt-hours of battery provide plenty of power. The Neuton CE 6 mower can cut about 1/3 acre (approx 15,000 sq. ft.) on a single charge. If you need more time, just swap in another battery and keep on mowing! Approx retail value $489.00 + shipping.