It’s difficult to overstate the importance of bread in our daily lives. Evidence of prehistoric bread from 30,000 years ago has been found in Europe.  Bread remains among the top ten foodstuffs consumed all over the world today. From Calabrese bread in Italy to Challah bread at Hanukkah to baguettes from a boulangerie in Paris to the rotis of India, nearly every culture on the planet celebrates bread, in their diet, and in their daily lives.

In ancient times it was sometimes difficult to get the bread to rise. The  most common method of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough starter.  Other procedures included leaving the bread dough uncovered on the table all week and hoping airborne yeasts would settle on the uncooked flour dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce “a lighter kind of bread than other peoples.” That was how they introduced yeast. Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast.

Lenzr’s Our Daily Bread photo contest celebrates the bread maker’s art. Submit wide shots or close-ups, interior or exterior pictures containing bread. Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, and predates agriculture; that kind of longevity is no accident, perhaps there is a bit of the divine in bread, that most ancient player in the history of human sustenance. Try to capture the historical and cultural importance of bread in your photograph–it’s not just bread, it’s life, energy, health, hope for the future and a link to the past.

ShaSha Organic combines ancient techniques with innovative methods to produce nutritious and wholesome breads.

ShaSha Bread Co.’s organic sourdough breads are made with the finest organic ingredients. ShaSha is a trailblazer in the Canadian bread industry, and the only bakery in Canada awarded the National Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program grant. The breads, many of which contain grains sprouted in ShaSha’s eco-friendly facility, are 100% organic, easily digestible and delicious. Wheat-free options are included. ShaSha Bread Co. was also featured in a three part video series for The Globe and Mail.

The Prize is a breadmaking machine that comes courtesy of Shasha Bread Co. organic ingredients estore. Virtually every ingredient included in ShaSha’s products is also sold separately in this handy online destination, full of the best breadmaking foodstuffs to help people practice their own breadmaking arts at home.

RULES / TIMELINE The contest works like any other Lenzr match – it’s a sixty day challenge. Upload your pictures to the index now, and right up until November 25th, 2011. It’s recommended that you promote your pictures when voting begins Nov 15, 2011 to get into the Top Ten grouping. Judges pick from the Top Ten images that are locked down on the 25th of November at 12:01 am when voting ends–the winner is announced Dec 1, 2011. Must be 13 yrs of age or older to enter. Contest is valid anywhere in North America.

We’re hoping to see pillowcases full of submissions in Lenzr’s latest photo contest, Homemade Halloween Costume, set to run through the October-November session. Halloween is a great North American tradition for many reasons. It’s unpretentious, and pulls people out of their own shoes and into the shoes of…whoever you want to be for a day–suddenly, cities are full of Supermans milling around downtown with briefcases. It’s a chance to bond with people from work, get together with friends for a party or interact with the community through contributing a Jack-O-Lantern and candy for the kids in your neighbourhood. Halloween is also a chance to connect with the darker, more mysterious side of human nature–it’s literally the only day on the calendar on which witches, goblins, vampires and devils are free to roam in their ‘natural states’–and it’s important to acknowledge that darker side exists, if only for twenty four hours.

How many years have you, at the beginning of October, told yourself you’d put a lot of effort into your Halloween costume and then fallen short, Googling “creative Halloween costume ideas” at the last minute and lamenting throwing away that faux-fur jumpsuit you could have used for your Chewbacca costume? How many years have you ended up as just a guy in a mask or a girl in bunny ears or, worst of all, yourself? That’s facetious; no one has to participate in Halloween if they don’t want to, but if you do, and if you want to impress your friends and win ‘Best Costume’ at the shindig you’re going to, Lenzr’s Homemade Halloween Costume photo contest is here to help. Not only do we provide the incentive for making your own costume, we’re rewarding the best photograph with some serious party favours.

Jib.ca Connects Brands with Big Ideas that Sell

Jib.ca is a boutique marketing agency that develops Big Ideas for clients which are manifested through web sites, viral videos, online games, print advertising, direct mail, billboards, digital marketing and social media contests.

“Is your idea big enough?” Jib.ca asks clients. Jib is a team of artists, writers and designers who also happen to be marketing professionals. This formidable mashup of creativity and marketing prowess, along with an approach that combines traditional marketing with cutting-edge digital design makes Jib.ca an ideal choice when looking for help in directing your brand.

The prize for this contest is (trick) $250 in candy or (treat) $250 in cash–your choice. This contest started October 1, 2011. Voting begins on November 15, after which the top ten user-ranked photos advance to the Lenzr judges. The winning photograph will be announced November 1, 2011.

The weekend is almost upon us and we wanted to update you on the progress of the contests.

The July/August 2011 session has been one of Lenzr’s most successful cycle ever. The number of photos and votes uploaded has been incredible and we are very happy with the participation levels. The more photos uploaded the more valuable Lenzr is as a story telling social media tool.

Fireplaces and Furnaces was an extreme challenge. It was about being creative and finding the right flame. It took contestants a lot of dedication and creativity to reach the top ten. Even though the Fire Places and Furnaces photo contests only had 27 entrees, it received over 530 votes. The online promotion for the photographs has been incredible.

Toronto Bed and Breakfast came to us after a lunch discussion in the office. With tourists around every street corner, this was the best time for this contest to launch. We felt this challenge would be fun and engaging, with 49 entrees and almost 1000 votes, we are confident that contestants agreed with us and had a blast snapping images around the city.

Haircuts and Hair Styles is a special contest because we don’t often have fashion related themes on our website. We wanted to see the best images of blunt, layered or styled hair. Participants eagerly accepted the challenge; the contest received 56 entrees and almost 800 votes. The Haircuts and Hair styles top 10 photographs showcase different funky haircuts.

The main goal of Objects in Motion is making an object look like they are zooming through a shot. This is the most successful contest we have ever had on Lenzr. Objects in Motion received 157 entrees and over 3,500 votes. This contest is very important to Lenzr because it lets us know what our participants enjoy and what they want to see more of. Thanks to everyone who participated or voted for the contests. We enjoy checking out your photographs and seeing them rise to the top. We do have two contests on the Lenzr website that you can still get involved in, make sure to check them out and discuss them on our forum.

Good luck to all participants with Top Ten photos. Winners announced September 1st 2011 right here on the Lenzr Blog.

Lenzr’s newest photo contest launched just in time for the dog days of summer. We’ve never tried a photo contest specifically looking for ‘beverage photography’, and we thought the heat might give Lenzr members some inspiration; first, to create a colorful liquid concoction, and second, to practice your photography skills (for best results do your shooting before sampling the drinks). Make it look tasty!

There’s a reason that cold beer and sports games go hand-in-hand; could you imagine sitting through all those commercials without having a case on hand to quench your thirst? By the way, your submission doesn’t need to be an alcoholic beverage–it could be lemonade or a freshly blended fruit smoothie–the key here is the 140 character summery.

Show us cocktails, juices, martinis, caesars or daiquiris; treat your liquid canvas as a still life and move your ice cubes, olives or fruit with a toothpick until it’s picture perfect. You could even use Lenzr’s Classy Summer Drinks contest as an excuse to have friends over for a party, if an excuse to party is hard to come by as summer begins to hint at its inevitable end…

Onyx is committed to reducing the widespread use of plastic and believes that everyone should be able to buy safe and environmentally responsible products without breaking the bank.

The winner of this contest will receive $400 worth of stainless steel products from Onyx’s catalog –it’s your choice– with free shipping anywhere in Canada. This is high-quality, long-lasting kitchenware that won’t leak pollutants into your food and definitely won’t shatter. Onyx even has stainless steel popsicle makers; they are a Canadian company who were inspired through their own children to create food and drink containers that were safe, resilient and healthy.

It’s time to say goodbye to two of Lenzr’s valued judges and to welcome fresh eyes to the fold. Many thanks to Jacques Surveyor and ioi for their expertise in determining the winners of two seasons’ worth of Lenzr contests. You can read more about Jacques and Matt and their photographic pursuits on this original blog post introducing the Lenzr judges. We  are also excited to welcome back Lenzr judges Marc Gendron, Chris Kovacs, Taku Kamabe, Bill Watson, Debbie Watson and Richard Carmichael for another round of contesting; you can read about their artistic pursuits and expertise at the above link as well.

Let’s Welcome New Lenzr Judges Gregory White and Donna Dolphy

Gregory White of Gregory White Photography was born in South Africa and resides in Toronto today. He’s well-traveled, and gets around by airplane, bicycle, his vintage red Beamer and sailboat. Yes, Gregory’s a sailor, carpenter, vegetarian cook, cheese connoisseur and he’s even tried quilting.

He’s also a talented photographer, snapping weddings, portraits and one-of-a-kind promo shoots for businesses, such as this beautiful and mysterious shoot called Lost in the Woods he captured for furniture line Lost Nation. Lenzr is very pleased to add Gregory’s well-rounded expertise to our panel of judges.

Donna Dolphy is an award-winning hair stylist who has just opened her own salon, Donna Dolphy Hair, in Toronto’s glamorous Yorkville neighbourhood. Born in Jamaica, Donna has always had a heightened aesthetic sense which she discovered she could put to great practical use the first time she braided the synthetic hairs on the head of her doll. A stylist to the stars, Donna has worked with many celebrities in her work with different international fashion and hair design magazine, and she was named L’Oreal Hair Designer of the Year in 2009.

You may also recognize Donna’s name on Lenzr’s current Haircuts and Hairstyles photo contest, of which she is the sponsor. Lenzr is proud to include Donna’s discerning eye for beauty on our impressive panel of judges.

Let’s be clear, the contest is not about freeze frames or action shots, but rather the art and science of taking pictures of moving objects (or people, or pets or whatever) in such a way as to really illustrate that they are indeed moving. It can mean using in-camera effects, and yes, it can mean photo editing–or both.

Submit shots that showcase an object’s movement.

The Objects in Motion photo contest is a real challenge for amateurs and professional camera people. This is not something that people can easily make in photo shop, (they can, but it will look goofy). The task in essence is to capture both sharp elements and blurry wipes in the same frame. The photographer must make blurry and sharp composites to suggest something in motion… it’s tricky.

“Things in motion tend to remain in motion,” states Newton’s Law.

This contest wants to see examples of fast moving people, animals or objects. We want to get a sense of ongoing motion from looking at the photograph. Examples could be a twirling figure skater, a jet airplane taking off, even waves at the beach, or a black cat scurrying across a shady street.

Allegro Freight Services Forwards Anything – Anywhere – Anytime

The first use of air freight occurred in Nov 1910 when a big name department store owner shipped a bolt of silk by air from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio. Reported in the local Columbus newspaper, the story noted that the shipment had beaten the railroad express between the two cities. This was a relatively short flight – but in 1910 airplanes weren’t much better than what Wilbur and Orville Wright flew at Kitty Hawk December 17th 1903, and it was big newspaper story. Today it’s easy to move much heavier loads anywhere in the world.

Allegro (which musicians know means ‘quickly, lively’) specializes in full-service logistics. Given a choice between land, sea and sky, air freight is the quickest and most reliable transport mode. You buy time for emergency shipments, and create shorter lead-times in time-based and just-in-time systems. You reduce costs through reduced stock, tie up less capital, and achieve fast distribution.

Allegro Freight specializes in air freight. They provide customers with a global agency network to transport their cargo anywhere in the world. The Allegro team is ready to discuss any type of transportation requirement, and can move your loads across North America and overseas to Europe, Asia, Africa or Australasia.

The prize is a Sony Laptop, which is, metaphorically speaking, a freight service of its own. This laptop is great for writers or people on the go, and will store vast amounts of your own personal, innermost logistics.

This contest started on July 1, 2011. Voting begins on August 15, 2011, after which the top ten user-ranked photos advance to judging. The winning photograph will be announced September 1, 2011.

Say what you will about the mega city, there’s no denying Toronto is the cultural and economic centre of Canada. Small-town Canadian kids dream of making it big here, while thousands of foreigners emigrate to the metropolis every year. Still a fairly young city, the G.T.A. is charged with the hopeful ambitions and tried-and-true traditions of its multicultural residents. There are no shortage of tourist attractions in this city, and that’s a good thing because Toronto has lots of great photographers.

Toronto really comes alive in the summertime, and it’s arguably the best season for tourism in the city.  Residents of a climate like Canada’s want to pack in as much sunshine as they possibly can!

The summer months are marked with arts festivals like the Fringe, Jazz Festival or the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as cultural events like one of the largest gay pride celebrations in the world and the largest Caribbean festival in North America, to name a few. Then there’s the CN Tower, Toronto Island, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Hockey Hall of Fame… and that’s just the downtown core!

Lenzr’s latest photo contest Toronto Tourist Attractions wants to see your best Toronto photography that might inspire a stranger to travel here. The Toronto skyline as seen from the island at dusk is a showstopping image,  but it’s a bit overdone. Locals may want to present imagery of some of the lesser-known tourist attractions such as the Guild Inn and the Scarborough Bluffs, the Bloor St. Viaduct (a setting in Booker Prize-winning Toronto author Michael Ondaajte’s novel In the Skin of the Lion), or the cherry blossoms blooming in High Park in late spring. Some of Toronto’s dining/entertainment options are tourist attractions in themselves, like the Toronto Symphony performing in the beautiful Roy Thomson Hall or even a late-night plate of nachos as Sneaky Dee’s, a favourite stop for touring bands. Show us your version of the quintessential Toronto image!

Making Waves Boatel is Toronto’s Only Dockside Bed & Breakfast

The dockside Making Waves Boatel downtown Toronto bed and breakfast is a perfect example of the diverse experiences available to Toronto tourists – a colorful illustration of two Canadians living out their dream. Ted and Diane Greene, both successful in their respective fields of IT and hospitality, decided to ditch corporate life and fulfill their shared aspiration of living life on the water. Although Ontario may be most famous for its Great Lakes, no one had ever thought to establish a boat hotel in Ontario until the Greenes did in 2004; their unique business idea immediately took off with tourists and the Making Waves Boatel was soon a press darling.

“The nearby Radisson Hotel has comfier rooms, but they probably frown on bare feet in their living room and they likely don’t have anyone to regale you with stories of bonefishing in the Bahamas or sailing the azure waters of Exuma. And for sure they won’t offer up Diane’s perfectly strong coffee or her Belgian waffles,” wrote the Toronto Star. Making Waves Boatel is the most downtown Toronto bed and breakfast you can find in the city, and a must for travelers who appreciate a one-of-a-kind experience.

The photo contest prize is an inflatable Sea Eagle Sport Kayak. Weighing only 26 lbs, the kayak holds 500 lbs when in the water, and packs down to fit into a storage bag. This is an amazing prize for the Canadian adventurer; may the best photograph win!

This contest started July 1, 2011. Voting begins August 15, after which the top ten user-ranked photos advance to judging. The winning photograph will be announced September 1, 2011.

A great photographer needs to be able to move in and out of their comfort zone with ease. A zoom lens will do the trick on occasion, but sometimes one must withstand disagreeable weather conditions, frightening situations or unfamiliar territories to get the perfect shot. Photographers should trust in their own experiences and personal subject matter, of course, but should always remain open to capturing striking images, even when they are uncomfortable or even just…out of season.

Play safe, it’s just a photo contest – nobody should get hurt!

Lenzr would never ask you to endanger yourself for a photograph, but we would ask you to think about fireplaces and furnaces in mid-summer, just as we asked you to show us the best patio in Canada several months ago when there was still snow on the ground. Yes, the latest Lenzr contest is called Fireplaces and Furnaces and looking for submissions illustrating the roaring glow of a fire–indoors!

It’s not easy to imagine lighting the fireplace in this heat, is it? It’s the perfect opportunity, however, for Lenzr members to create a scene, set the mood and get proactive as a photographer. Even on film, things aren’t always as they seem: Fast food photography is a lengthy process, and that beautiful shot of the bride throwing back her head in a laugh may have been coaxed out when the photographer admitted it wasn’t his first hurricane wedding.

So what if it’s summer? It can be winter…in your photograph.

Show us cozy! Pets curled up by the fireplace, curry cooking on the wood-burning stove, leftover embers in the morning after a warm and secure sleep. Tell us a story. Are those stockings? It must be Christmas Eve! Or are they wet socks? Did some family members get caught out in the rain? If your photograph begins to make you feel nostalgic for colder weather, you may have a winner.

Zonelife Designs Furnace Systems to Meet Heating and Budget Needs

Zonelife brings over 30 years’ experience to every installation. Experts in the heating industry, Zonelife specializes in high efficiency furnaces which can instantly save customers money as the costs of heating/cooling a home are often the bulk of the energy bill. Zonelife’s natural gas furnaces also produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than any other fossil fuel fired furnace and less carbon dioxide than electric heating.

Zonelife is dedicated to quality and so, in addition to their fine furnace materials, they go above and beyond in terms of customer service by designing a heat loss/heat gain formula to determine how much heat is necessary for each customer’s space. And, moving into the future, Zonelife is staying current by offering an option to their customers to set their new system to do the thinking for them, by calculating and maintaining the ideal air temperature.

The prize is a Sony Laptop; who couldn’t use one of those?

Contest begins July 1st 2011
Voting begins August 15th 2011
Voting ends August 25th 2011 Top Ten advance to Judges
Contest ends September 1st 2011 Winner announced on Lenzr blog.

This contest is open to all Canadians age 13 yrs or older, excluding Quebec.

From Sesame St. to Wall St., common counting exercises appear all around us. Have you ever woken up seconds before your alarm clock went off? Or guessed correctly the number of paces it takes you to get home from the bus stop? We are often unaware of how much tallying is actually going on inside our heads. Even people who claim disinterest in math may suffer from arithmomania (an offshoot of  OCD that creates in the sufferer an irrepressible need to count their actions or the objects in their surroundings). Do you ever count the number of tiles on the floor or ceiling? Cracks in the sidewalk? Cars in a traffic jam? Don’t worry, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going the way of Count von Count; what it does mean is you’re one step ahead of the competition in Lenzr’s latest contest: A Counting Exercise.

Count Von Count was constantly adding things up.

Counting things is a common behavioral theme, a sort of compulsion for someone with OCD. A compulsion is a behavior that is acted out in an attempt to quiet down the obessive thoughts. As such, it is typically an anxiety reducing behavior and that is why it is repeated so frequently. I’m not sure what obsession a counting compulsion might be compensating for ?  But the general pattern is that by acting out the behavior, people feel safer/better. So in this instance, Lenzr has therapeutic applications.

Archaeologists have calculated that humans have been counting things for over 50,000 years.

It is thought that the first method of counting was done with the fingers, then, in Stone Age cultures, tallies were used in trading goods and services. These days we count modern concepts like money, mileage and calories–though we retain some of our Stone Age roots when we look in the fridge and do a quick tally of its contents in order to determine what’s for dinner. Comedian Mitch Hedberg quipped, “I like rice. Rice is great when you’re hungry and want 2,000 of something.” Counting exercises are everywhere–there are literally countless possibilities for original submissions in this contest–and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Show us repeating patterns in a photo like people in crowds, riot police, lines on the highway, stars in the sky, reflections in a three-way mirror–the list, like numbers, is infinite. What could make this contest even more fun is if the photographer determines the numerical value of their shot and encourages Lenzr members to guess the total.

Cunningham LLP Chartered Accountants see Beyond Your Numbers

Cunningham LLP is a veteran team of Toronto accountants, a service orientated business with a personal touch. They are committed to working for the success of their mid-market entrepreneurial business clients in various lines of work. While their services cover a full range of  accounting, tax and business assurance and advisory services, they operate as more than just an accounting firm, taking responsibility for the future financial successes of their clients. Cunningham LLP is also the home of Mark Goodfield, The Blunt Bean Counter, the most interesting ‘accounting blog’ you’ll ever read.

Cunningham LLP was established in 1971 and each of their seven partners offers their own insights and expertise in realizing solutions for their clients–Cunningham works as a team, uncovering the possibilities and using the numbers to create a realistic vision for success. Their website is enriched by Cunningham-produced blogs and videos, further enhancing the element of personal touch these Toronto accountants provide for their clients.

The prize is a Sony laptop, a modern-day abacus.

Contest Schedule,

Contest begins   June 1st 2011
Voting begins    July 15th 2011
Voting ends        July 25th 2011          Top Ten advance to Judges
Contest ends      August 1st 2011        Winner announced on Lenzr blog.

This contest is open to all Canadians age 13 yrs or older, excluding Quebec.

This is the ghost photo contest. This lonely challenge has been haunting the Lenzr blog widget feeds for two months, but when you checked on the website, it didn’t appear in the line up.  It’s a mystery cruise, a whodunnit.  And now again it’s a ghost ship, set adrift in the night, a vessel without a sponsor to captain the storytelling. I remember how it all came about…

Lenzr is excited about summer in Canada. The clouds parted one day and it was warm outside. the Shafts of Sunlight photo contest triggers thoughts of summer fun exploring caves and crevices, old buildings and barns and dirty basement windows on really bright summer days. The inspiration for this contest came to us during a hard day at the office back in February. Let us paint you a picture of the gloomy start to that great ending day. It was raining and muggy outside. The offices of Lenzr are filled with beautifully detailed giant windows. We were all writing, clicking, and watching our computer screens. While our eyes were glued to our work, the rain stopped and rays of light creeped in through the windows to brighten the walls and hardwood floors . Rob was reminded of the beautiful Dutch paintings during the renaissance, and he will probably write about the Calling of St Matthew by Caravaggio? Is that right? But now we’re walking around with smiles on our faces because of the hot sun beaming in and the weather is finally becoming enjoyable. So I suppose its a celebration of the summer season.

The challenge is making a shaft of sunlight look solid. You want to make it look like a tangible object that you can reach out and hold in your hand. A talented photographer understands the task requires atmosphere. It’s not easy to photograph sunlight. And this is not about recording a sunny day, but rather an exercise in making sunlight tangible, and the true focus of the image.

Complete Home Concepts is a building contractor that specializes in the design / build of custom sunrooms and patio enclosures to bring sunlight into your domicile. They are experts at creating both residential and commercial sunrooms.

The prize is a Sony DSCH70 Camera (color subject to change) courtesy of a clever company.

HOW LENZR WORKS: There is a ten day Voting Period that begins July 15th and ends July 25th. During that time, people will be prompted to rate the pictures. The Top Ten photos advance to Lenzr Judges on July 25th – The winner is selected based on their preferences , their comments are often published in the Lenzr blog. The winner is announced in the Lenzr Blog on or before August 1st 2011. Good Luck! Contest open to all Canadians excluding Quebec (wink) Canada only – must be 13 yrs or older