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.

On September 28th 2009 at a Starbucks in Mississauga Steven Prentice the CEO of Bristall Morgan Inc met a Toronto photographer named Mario Pirraglia who was the winner of the Emergency in Toronto photo contest this summer.

Mario Pirraglia (mpirra on Lenzr) is a business executive in the natural gas vehicle industry who travels extensively for business. A passionate shutterbug his job gives him the opportunity to expand his travel photography portfolio.

Mario’s photo, Firefighter saving lives carried the caption, “Toronto Firefighter returning from a fire” and soon collected 55 green thumbs up to win the challenge on August 31st 2009.

When I asked Steven Prentice to describe the encounter and Mario (as well as obtain the photos seen here) he wrote this terrific account,

It was a really great experience. Mario and I met at a Starbucks in Mississauga and chatted for an hour and discovered we had a great number of things in common, including a love of cars, playing music, photography, and expensive watches. I was truly fascinated to learn about his business and about alternate sources of energy (sounds like I’m writing a grade 8 essay here), but given that we were complete strangers at the start, I really felt it was an hour well spent, and hopefully Mario is someone with whom I can keep in touch.

To use a photographic analogy that I have used for many years, it’s what I call the “Polaroid effect.” When you meet someone for the first time, the slate is quite blank and can remain that way, but as you talk, the colours appear…  That’s one of the great things about meeting people and about taking the time - in the true spirit of Time Management - to slow down and enjoy a slice of their life.

I enjoyed the whole experience of sponsoring this contest, and hopefully Mario will be coming out to see one of my band’s performances, and maybe taking a few pix. After all, he’s well qualified.

Lenzr agrees. He wins the grand prize, seen here, an Esquire Verve 2020 mens’ watch.

Ontario Tourist Attractions is a search for pictures that celebrate our province’s most interesting destinations. This web challenge asks users to upload scenic shots of small town main streets, famous buildings, museums and battlefield monuments. How about shots of the beach? Or pictures of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa? Or Chrysler’s Farm, or Lang Pioneer Village? How about shots of the steam train in Totenham? Added together with the location. the 140 character caption on each photo should somehow capture the essence of people enjoying the great outdoors in the Province of Ontario.

This contest is sponsored by Kanetix.ca, which is not an insurance company.

Founded by Gregory Ellis and George Small, Kanetix.ca offers Canadians a better way to shop for insurance. Incorporated in 1999, the Kanetix® insurance marketplace was launched online to offer instant insurance quotes from up to forty competing insurers.

The company saves consumers time and money. Up until the dawn of the internet, most Canadians were shopped for insurance by leafing through the phone book and calling brokers or agents they found through word-of-mouth or business cards. This is a time consuming process which discouraged people from actually shopping around to find the best price.

Kanetix.ca is Canada’s one-stop insurance marketplace. They’re an online insurance shopping tool that provides consumers with insurance information and quote comparison services from Canada’s top insurance providers to deliver unbiased information and quotes.

Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest commenced Sept 2nd 2009.   The contest end 12:01 am November 1st 2009.

The Prize: There’s a $200 value first prize, followed by a $100 second prize unit.

Friends and photographers visiting Lenzr.com last week migt have noticed some changes in the mix; there have been about twelve small fixes and three large alterations to the code.

Profound changes have been made to the way people vote on images.  We’ve abandoned the thumbs in favour of a rainbow coloured numeric scale for greater accuracy.

And there are now two kinds of votes, public and registered. Public votes are for fun and will not count for deciding winners. Registered votes are made by registered users. Participate in either way, and our system will log your computer’s IP address to prevent multiple votes.

Users cannot vote on their own photos. The image above was uploaded by quansathome; her computer will not show the rainbow vote bar.

Users can disable their accounts at anytime, and they can delete their photos within 24 hours of uploading them onto the site.

Do you have any suggestions?

Here’s Mario Pirraglia (mpirra on Lenzr.com) of Toronto relaxing last week in Berlin, Germany.

He’s thrilled to have won the prize, a luxury watch, while away on vacation. So far during this trip he’s been in Turin, Berlin, Helsinki and Zagreb. Next week he will be in Bolzano, Northern Italy and in Vevey, Switzerland. And finally after that he’ll be heading home to claim his prize as winner in the Lenzr photo contest.

Emergency in Toronto had 14 photos and 269 total votes. This was the hardest challenge but yet this was the contest that turned the most heads as people marveled at the quality of the submissions.  Photos like Mario’s prize winner add value to the entire site.

Mario’s photo, Firefighter saving lives carried the caption, “Toronto Firefighter returning from a fire” and soon collected 55 green thumbs up to win the challenge on August 31st 2009

Mario Pirraglia is a business executive in the natural gas vehicle industry that travels extensively for business. A passionate travel photographer, this gives him the opportunity to expand his portfolio.

The winning photograph entitled Firefighter saves lives was taken in 2003 during a fire in a high rise on Bloor Street just west of Keele.

The firefighter in the picture had just exited from the building after extinguishing a healthy blaze and rescuing an older gentleman from certain death.

Mario adds, “Firefighters are true heroes. I decided to highlight the firefighter by keeping him in colour while making the background black and white. This is an effect that I use quite often, and it’s one that you either love or hate.”

Congratulations Mario, your Esquire Verve luxury watch and time management guru Steven Prentice, the CEO of Bristall Morgan and the author of Cool Time will be waiting here in Toronto to present it to you upon your return.

Perhaps the answer to the eternal question “which smart phone should I choose, iPhone, Blackberry or Palm Pre?” has finally been answered.

Snickerzmom, who could have had any make and model, chose a new 16GB 3GS iPhone. The really interesting thing is that she already has an iPhone,  and yet she chose it again… What does that tell you?
Thursday Sept 3rd, 2009 inside the Rogers center at the Arriba restaurant at a cozy table by the window overlooking the Blue Jays practice before their game with the New York Yankees, Paul Peic of myCELLmyTERMS.com produces the grand prize for Snickerzmom and Dad.

Paul wrote about the Lenzr photo contest on The Cell Phone Blog, which is fast becoming a terrific niche destination for all Canadian cell phone users

What an amazing photo finish for Lenzr, Summer in Toronto July to Sept 2009

What a perfect end to a beautiful story about a web savvy woman with a camera phone seizing an opportunity to win another camera phone that’s made even more powerful by the recurring Blue Jays game motif. Is this true social media? You bet.  She couldn’t done it without her friends.
Colleen Cole of Brampton Ontario harnessed her friends on other social networks and brought them to the site, directly to her image using the link available on the vote page. Dad at The Game totaled 112 green thumbs up. Not bad considering there were 58 pictures and over 3700 votes.

The first photo contest on Lenzr was won with this photo.   Dad has the same enthusiastic expression on his face in every shot.

You can follow Talking Colleen on Twitter and find out more about the contests she enters there and what’s new with her ‘BF and three cats’.

There will be more information regarding the other two contest winners, and three new contests and sponsors and the changes that have been made to  Lenzr.com in the days to come.