The ninth photo contest on Lenzr is called Kids in Action and gives shutterbugs lots of common ground on a wide open playing field.

Anyone with family knows that kids are pretty much always in action, having adventures wherever life takes them. Already there are some really interesting snapshots submitted to the site, and this contest just launched last week.

The prize in this challenge is a premier high quality teeth whitening kit called Nite White, and it’s a bleaching product that’s only available at the dentist’s office because it requires custom molded trays.

Sponsored by Toronto dentist Dr. Natalie Archer D.D.S. the challenge is designed to highlight the obvious connection between kids in action and healthy teeth.  Dr Archer hopes to personally meet and congratulate the winner of the contest. She has passion for photography and kids of her own, and thinks the whole idea is pretty neat.  So if the winner is local, they’ll be invited to stop by the office for a chat and custom fitting for the whitening trays. If the winner is out of province, or not interested in making the trip, then Lenzr will ship the NiteWhite prize with extra toothpaste, mouthwash and tooth floss and toothbrushes - dental supplies for an entire year.

Rosedale Family Dental Office at Sherbourne St and Bloor is literally right across the street from the subway, on the eight floor, in suite 808 of the large medical center with orange awnings at 600 Sherbourne St.
All of the dentists and staff at Rosedale Family Dental are committed to excellence and proud of their dedication to patients.

Just after Rob Campbell sat down in the big chair, and before Dr Archer put any metal things in his mouth, they had a friendly conversation about his dental pain and stains. Its obvious that each patient’s health and comfort is Dr Archer’s primary concern.

Her unique approach emphasizes patient wellness and prevention, and involves the dentist and client mutually agreeing on a program to achieve and maintain optimum oral health.

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.

James Stortz the  C.E.O. and founder of  S.E. Telecommunications really surprised us when he came up with this perfect idea for a photo contest on Lenzr.  He said, why not make a challenge to show ‘tangled messes’ so we can make fun of how wired everyone is these days? And we said, of course.

James you’re a genius. The photo contest Everyday Tangled Web is designed to pinpoint the tangles that we, as a society, create and use everyday.

What does the back of your computer look like? If you run a network with multiple terminals in your home or business it can get really complicated behind the scenes. Add cable TV or fiber optic wires and device wires and audio cables and telephone wires and it becomes a real mess.  But can this mess ever be beautiful?  With or without the dust bunnies?

Its a challenging assignment, finding wired messes is not difficult, but it takes a special kind of artist to transform a natural composition of strings and wires, or steam hoses or even human hair into compelling photographic art.  This kind of out-of-the-box thinking by James will certainly require some innovative photo tactics by Lenzr members.

S.E Telecom would like to remind the public that choosing the correct business telephone system is very important, as that system will be an integral part of your business, helping you to grow and develop closer links with your clients. The wrong system can be expensive and disastrous.

This company is fast becoming the best business telephone systems provider in Toronto, offering consulting, design, implementation and support for small to medium sized businesses. They have integrated services for some of the most successful companies to date, such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Redline Communications, Remedy’s Rx, dineTO, to name a few.  They are distributors of AVAYA and Nortel giving them cutting edge solutions to bring your business to the next level. Located in Markham Ontario,  S.E. Telecommunications are experts at,

1.    Assessing your needs

2.    Mobile integration, including,  a)  Advanced Conference Calling Abilities  b)  Voicemail to Email c)    Call Recording  d)    Call Center  e)    Route-to-fax capability/Fax to E-Mail  f)   Cell phone Integration  g)    Call Detail Recording/Call Tacking

3.    De-mystifying the jargon and making sense of   a) VoiP or IP - Voice over Internet protocol and Internet protocol  b)  KSU - Key system unit  c)  PBX - Private branch exchange  d)  HOSTED PBX - A hosted PBX system delivers PBX functionality as a service  e) IVR - Interactive voice response.

4.    Estimating how many lines or trunks and how many extensions you need

5.    Choosing a supplier

SE Telecom designs phone systems that offer powerful capabilities to help employees communicate more effectively with customers, vendors, and each other. Combining advanced, big business functionality with the ease of use and simplified management that small businesses require.

The prize for the Everyday Tangled Web photo contest is a Plantronics Voyager 510SL+ Bluetooth Headset System with Lifter, retail Value $429.00

Enjoy wireless freedom in the office or on the go with the Plantronics Voyager 510S Bluetooth Headset. Ensuring lightweight, all-day comfort, the Voyager 510S delivers superior sound quality and provides WindSmart technology for clear voice transmission. At the touch of a button you can seamlessly switch between office phone and voice-enabled Bluetooth mobile device. Wherever, Whenever, Wireless
Highlights
•    Bluetooth-Enabled Technology
•    One headset for wireless communication in and out of office
•    Lightweight headset design for all-day wearing comfort
•    Desk phone adapter turns your office phone into a Bluetooth phone
•    Versatile headset for both office and Bluetooth mobile phones
•    Noise-Canceling microphone for clearer conversations
•    WindSmart provides wind-noise reduction technology for optimal sound clarity
•    Headset folds for easy storage
•    One-touch call control buttons
•    Now in silver for a sleek, updated look
•    Included lifter automatically lifts handset and returns it to the cradle
•    Enables remote or one touch call answer/end with your Plantronics headset
•    Included travel kit contains carrying pouch, CLA charger, USB charger, and indicator

“Using cutting edge technology and feature rich products is the corner stone of our business.  We have a team of researchers who are constantly reviewing the latest in telecommunications technology to ensure each of our clients has the latest and best systems out on the market.  That paired with our high level of customer service, and technicians that go the extra mile is what sets us apart from the rest. Whenever you need us wherever you need us, we are there for you”. James Stortz CEO, SE Telecommunications Ltd. www.setelecom.ca

This photo contest ends March 1st 2010 and at that time the member that uploaded the photo with the highest rating will win this prize. Good luck to all participants!

Readers of this blog, photographers, Lenzr members and friends know that this website is a work in progress. We are starting something here, and with bold intentions we are trying to perfect a mechanism that efficiently ‘harnesses business to make art’.  Already the success of our enterprise has proven that buzz marketing attached to a photo contest is a healthy way for any company and especially local business to tell consumers the specifics of their offering and share branded content and user submitted photo genius through an expanding social network.

But all is not perfect. There are problems that need to be remedied and the biggest issue seems to be the manner by which the winning photo is selected.

As you know on Lenzr, there are two qualities of votes. To encourage more participation, we have opted to have a popular vote that does not require registration, and yet we have a registered vote that is more powerful.  In the last set-up the registered vote was worth five times more than a popular vote.  In the new equation it will be worth 10x more than a popular vote, and members will have to have uploaded a photo before they can cast a registered vote. Newly registered members that have not uploaded a photo or if their photo has been deleted, will find their registered votes actively or retroactively rescinded into popular votes.

Another factor is the number of votes, and this is where we went wrong last contest period. The weight was too high and the members who uploaded their images first received the lion’s share of audience participation and won by sheer volume of votes, both low and high scores.  In the new algorithm, the # of votes will still count, but only be worth half as much.

Slimmswitch wrote us an email last week and said,  “Maybe another suggestion would be to allow both the registered user and anonymous user to only be able to vote on one photo per day as opposed to every photo? as people might get others to vote a terrible score on every other photo.  I think this would make voting more accurate as people will be forced to vote more honestly.” Our response: Although we agree that limiting the # of votes per day would force people to be selective and discriminating, we think it would be too limiting, and severely affect participation numbers, which is a metric intricately connected to our sponsorship sales efforts.

# of Comments Here at Lenzr we have decided to add another variable to our increasingly complex formula. Now we are adding # of comments to the equation. Each comment will be considered a positive addition to the photo selection metrics.

SUMMARY of the new LENZR SCORING ALGORITHM

The winning photo on Lenzr will now be selected by a combination of Registered Votes and Popular votes, whereby Registered Votes are worth 10x more than Popular Votes. The total numbers of votes each photo receives will be halved and this amount added to the equation.  And finally the # of comments will collected and added to the scoring with each comment being worth one perfect or 10/10 registered vote.

Lets try that, and see where we are in sixty days. Your feedback is appreciated.

Happy New Year!  What were you doing on January 1st 2010, at 12:01 am?

At that exact moment, three photo contests ended on Lenzr.com and now its time to look at the numbers and celebrate the results.  Congratulations go to members ve3bnw and seguini for uploading the winning pictures!

Medicinal Plants in Nature collected 17 photos that were rated by 484 votes.

This photo contest was sponsored by Wellpath Clinic, a friendly natural medicine clinic located at Avenue Rd and Bloor St in downtown Toronto (and in Port Carling, Muskoka).

The winner of this challenge was a lovely picture of a plant with white blossoms by seguni that was called pretty garden…

Total Votes: 42
Popular rating: 4.6 (21 votes)
Registered rating: 7.0 (21 votes)

This member will receive $330 worth of Neal’s Yard Remedies and I hope to get a picture of this lucky person inspecting the prize in an upcoming post.

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Macro Photos of Life collected the most photos of all three web challenges. This match enjoyed the most votes too.  At the end of sixty days, there were 76 photos submitted in a collection that had accrued 4021 votes.

Sponsored by Shrinkray Mobile, this enterprise specializes in streamlining business websites to make them more effective in mobile browsers.  Shrinkray is a division of Boomboat.com which was established online in 2000. The Shrinkray Mobile website comes complete with a mighty boomblog and slideshare presentation outlining their easy to use innovation.

These people are very interested in developing, streamlining and hosting your mobile business. Smojoe has been taking an offer of free development and even free hosting to mobile discussion forums looking for case studies.

The winning photo was submitted by a prolific member named ve3bnw which sounds like a license plate # and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, considering he (or she?) describes himself as a truck driver that’s interested in photography. The image is titled Time to BEEHAVE and spotlights a happy honey bee.

Total Votes: 171
Popular rating: 7.3 (132 votes)
Registered rating: 7.9 (39 votes)

The prize is a free wine and breweries tour of Eastern Ontario as described on the Locaboire website, it comes complete with one night’s accomodation at Timberhouse, a Brighton Ontario b&b. Look for a full report on this experience later this month.

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Ontario Tourist Attractions 2 collected 43 photos that enjoyed 2372 votes.

This web challenge was sponsored by Kanetix.ca to help get the word out about their car insurance quotes search system that makes shopping for all motor vehicle insurance easy, and rewarding.

The winning photo was also submitted by ve3bnw and titled Hidden Gem

Although I personally cannot see why this photo was selected, I will admit that a marshy stretch of Ontario farmland is a more desirable travel destination than many other more crowded, overpriced and less scenic abodes. The membership decides the winner, and this image won by the numbers.
Total Votes: 123
Popular rating: 7.6 (80 votes)
Registered rating: 7.4 (43 votes)

The prize is a gift/cash certificate for $300 and will be mailed/delivered to ve3bnw

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Regarding the Lenzr voting algorithm and the method by which the membership decides the winning photos: there are changes coming next round that will more effectively level the playing field, and prevent one or two members from dominating the scoring. There will be a Lenzr blog post following this post and before the next round of contests begins that will explain these changes and detail the new formula used to determine winners.

In the months of November and December 2009, Medicinal Plants in Nature celebrates botany and hopes to collect images of natural medicine growing wild in the great outdoors.  Botanical photography is used to depict plants accurately with respect to their form and color. Good examples will provide relevant information to help document plant morphology and function, the environment, plant life histories, diseases, the effects of pollution, and relationships with other lifeforms.

Successful botanical photography is as much art as it is science; it requires a detailed knowledge of plants and their habitats as well as a keen eye for composing balanced pictures.

Here at Lenzr, we’ve always been curious about plants and animals and the history of medicine is a hot topic. We’ve studied the works of early botanists who once walked the woods with Native American guides in the 1800s, sketching and collecting flowers and herbs for the benefit of science. Historical fiction has a fond place for the Benedictine Monks and their apothecaries or the tribal elders that collected herbage for poultices for wounds, and other plants to cure digestive ailments. We want to know, what plants did they collect? and what ailments did they cure, exactly?

Today this practice of herb collecting while hiking is sometimes called wildcrafting and instead of filling burlap bags with leaves and roots and flower blossoms, people are asked to respect the environment and simply photograph the plants. Take only take what you need, when you need it. Its far better to take only pictures and document these medicinal plants growing wild in nature - please help insure a supply remains for anyone and everyone in the future.

Sponsored by Ontario’s premier Natural Medicine Clinic the member that uploads the highest rated photo will take home about $330 worth of Neal’s Yard Remedies.

Wellpath Clinic offers a new approach to health care. Their mission is to empower people to improve the overall quality of their lives.

Their organic approach focuses on understanding and treating each patient’s whole health, rather than just the symptoms. Using state-of-the-art techniques and a scientific approach to natural medicine, Wellpath Clinic provides safe and effective therapies to help patients achieve a sustainable wellness.

At the core of each program is the patient, and this clinic is committed to taking the time to understand the individual, and to formulate a personalized approach to their specific needs. Their goal is to help patients lead healthier lives.

PRIZE - a gift basket of six different Neal’s Yard Remedies, including Orange Flower Facial Wash, Rosewater Toner, Orange Flower Facial Oil, Yarrow & Comfrey Moisturizer, White Tea Eye Gel, Geranium & Orange Body Butter for a Total Retail Value  $330.00

The member that uploaded the highest rated photo when this photo contest ends at 12:01 am EST on the morning January 1st 2009 will win the prize package detailed above.

When people buy goods and services online, that’s considered ecommerce, but when people shop over their phones its mcommerce and this one of the fastest growing sectors of the new economy.

ShrinkRay is a powerful tool used to build mobile applications and web 2.0 widgets. It is a Device Management System (DMS) and an Application Toolkit that can be customized to suit any business and marketing goals. This friendly company will works with their clients to ensure the application delivers all neccessary functionality.  ShrinkRay Mobile is quite possibly the best mobile platform available. Its easy to use and very efficient.

Macro Photos of Life contest hopes to amass a large display of small living things. Photographers are asked to use their camera’s macro lens to capture the freckles, skin pores and whiskers of the tiniest possible subjects. Already we have seen wasps, spiders and even a humming bird!

Prize is a free deluxe Locaboire Ontario Wine Tour Travel Package for two adults, a charter bus, wine and brewery tour in Eastern Ontario. The prize package includes two meals and one night accommodation at a beautiful Brighton Ontario Bed and Breakfast.

Contest ENDS: 12:01 am on the morning of Jan 1st 2010

The good folks at Kanetix are delighted with the results of the 1st Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest.

That’s because the Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest was very well received, with over seventy five photos submitted and almost 3000 registered votes collected in September and October 2009.

“Clearly the contest was a lot of fun for all involved. We were quite impressed with the quality of pictures submitted, and all of us on the marketing team enjoyed watching as new images were uploaded and voted on by participants.” said Wayne John, one of the marketing team leads. “And of course, it was a pleasure to mail the Gift Certificates to the winners: Mommakoala in Hamilton, and Slimmswitch in Ottawa.  thanks to everyone who participated, and to Lenzr.com for making it happen.”

The Kanetix sponsored event was a lot of fun, and the images in the archives reflect that excitement. They are sure to be enjoyed by many visitors for a long time to come. Perhaps these pictures will inspire travelers from outside Canada to visit and enjoy our attractions.

Lenzr.com is thrilled that Kanetix has decided to do it again…

The Kanetix.ca sponsored Ontario Tourist Attractions 2 photo contest on Lenzr.com will once again show off our province’s most interesting travel destinations. “There is something really satisfying in that index of pictures.” said Wayne, “My favorites are the snapshots of unusual objects and sights with quirky headlines and captions. This time we encourage more photos of out-of-the-way places and lesser known travel destinations from all across the province”

Lenzr believes this contest theme is a great association for Kanetix.ca who specialize in delivering rock bottom car insurance quotes and the challenge is even more relevant when people submit family road trip pictures. As we all know, the less you pay for your car insurance, the more you can spend on your holidays.

Of course all submissions should be crisp, clear and have a compelling caption that explains the location and essence of the picture. The winner of this challenge will be the member that uploads the top rated image when the contest ends on January 1st 2010 as determined by the quantity of registered votes + popular votes / total number of votes.

Are you paying too much for your mortgage or your insurance policies? Perhaps Kanetix can help you to find a cheaper rate. As Canada’s leader in online insurance and mortgage price comparisons, Kanetix.ca can quickly provide you with competing quotes from top rated companies. Pick the company with the best rate and in most cases, arrange for coverage online.

Compare mortgage rates, car insurance, life insurance, home/property insurance, motorcycle insurance, business insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, and more…

Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr ended on Nov1st 2009 and one image No Pesky Neighbours Here was rated a few points higher than the rest.

This quirky snapshot gleaned 93 total votes to finish with a rating of 8.7 from 20 registered votes (and 7.2 from 73 popular votes).

Mommakoala wins $200 gift certificate from Kanetix Insurance & Mortgage Rate Quotes.

Mommakoala is a 50 yr old nurse in Hamilton, Ontario who likes to photograph unusual landscapes.  She’s presently on a mission to lens all 126 Waterfalls in and around the Hamilton Wentworth area (and all up the Niagara escarpment) . This is a big adventure on her part, and I expect we’ll see more of her work on Lenzr in the near future.

The winning photo was taken when Mommakoala was with her family, enjoying the sights on the 1000 Islands boat cruise in Gananoque Ontario in August 2008. This was one of dozens of images that she snapped on that trip. But there’s something about the image thats timeless and she knew it was the best possible submission for this photo contest. She was right.

Overall, the Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr was a huge success. There were over seventy five images from all across Ontario - we saw Wasaga Beach, St Lawrence Market and several shots of the CN Tower and Niagara Falls. My personal favourites include The Big Nickel, Huskie the Muskie, the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and Old Fort Henry in Kingston.

Second place reward was $100 and this went to member Slimmswitch for his submission called Ottawa - The Spider City.  Early on in the competition this image had the highest rating, and it was the clear favourite to win - it’s interesting to note this picture has almost twice as many votes, but a slightly lower rating.

Slimmswitch, who donated the colouful self portrait seen below, did a great job using the 140 character caption to really sell the originality of his photo composition.  He writes in the description, Located in Ottawa , if you stand under this huge spider and look up you can actually see they put fake spider eggs inside the structure??

TIPS: Participants that upload images to Lenzr should always make their caption as long and colourful as possible.  It should contain ideas that are counterpoint to the subject of the picture.  In Lenzr photo contests, the most important thing is to make your submissions more interesting than everyone elses. Your pictures don’t have to be technically superior, or more aesthetically beautiful, but rather more charming, quirkier and ’storyfull’.

Occasionally people email me to complain that certain pretty pictures are not ranked higher, or fail to appear in the top 10, while other,  inferior images are ahead of them. This would be frustrating, but its important to remember that sometimes the most technically perfect and aesthetically pleasing pictures are also the most boring.  In Ontario Tourist Attractions we all watched as two wacky images pulled away from the rest of the pack to finish as prize winners.

As I write this update, the fourth Lenzr photo contest has less than two days remaining; interest is piqued as eighty new members watch its dramatic conclusion.

Ontario Tourist Attractions has collected over seventy photos which have together amassed over 2500 registered votes, and over 10,000 popular votes - the website now averages over 200 visits per day.

Here is a spectacular shot of St Lawrence market by a Lenzr member named ianduncanmacdonald. Thank-you. I love this colourful postcard like image because in the bottom right corner you can see the Flatiron Bldg which is another tourist mecca.

The Big Nickle was submitted by sj_gb who delights the admin by linking to a personal photography blogspot in the designated area in the user profile.

This contest was designed as a search for pictures that celebrate of our province’s most interesting tourist and travel destinations, and The Big Nickle is a classic.

Look at these other gems,

Thanks to Lenzr member yuhojun who graced the contest with this shots he calls, Parliment Hill and the caption reads  ‘Parliment Hill at Late Afternoon’. This same member also uploaded this crisp breathtaking shot which only suffers from being a little too ambigious regarding the specific tourist destination theme requirement - but this is a beautiful picture that might otherwise win another contest anywhere… how about Best Cottage Country Photos? This would win I’m sure.

Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr was sponsored by Kanetix insurance & mortgage rate quotes

This photo contest ends 12:01 am on the morning of November 1st 2009.

Two Prizes: both cash prizes. There’s a $200 value first prize, followed by a $100 second prize unit.