Tuesday March 9th 2010 dawned sunny and bright, and was a truly beautiful spring morning, spoiling Toronto with unseasonably warm weather.  This put everyone in a good mood, and it was especially pleasant inside the medical center at 600 Sherbourne St, opposite the subway, on the south west corner of  Bloor and Sherbourne St in the heart of the city.

It was particularly cheery in unit #808, the dental office of Dr Natalie Archer DDS, the Toronto dentist that sponsored the Kids in Action photo contest on Lenzr.

At 1 pm that afternoon, when the sun was at its zenith, the girl that won the photo challenge  entered the office.  The girl is from York University in her last year of sociology studies, but she dreams of being a working professional.   The girl’s name is seattledredge, and she’s a soft spoken, sly and precocious amateur photographer with professional aspirations.  Seattle wears black nail polish, and someday she will be a world famous something - a photo journalist, marketing poet or cereal box designer, she will be famous.  Her image ‘Soccer Stand’ can still be viewed in her profile - the picture won the match with a high score of 116 points,  an amalgam of votes, views and comments.

Seattle took lots of pictures on Tuesday March 9th, and these images can be found here on seattledredge Flickr photostream.

Although the NiteWhite teeth whitening kit was positioned as the grand prize of the challenge, this reward requires a dental office to make custom molds for form fitting trays that are filled with the bleaching agent and left on your teeth overnight. These trays are made from impressions taken of her teeth and mouth.  Dr Archer’s dental technicans used a special pink gel that hardens in about thirty seconds.

Seattle was interested in every detail and the citizen journalist was alive in her - she has a friend writing a story on teeth whitening in an online university publication.  I love the picture above in which Dr Archer is just standing back and taking it all in. Its clear that even though she didn’t expect this, she finds it all very amusing.

It’s March 1st 2010 today. Three photo contests ended on Lenzr at 12:01 am this morning, and now three more photo challenges are set to begin.  It wasn’t the smoothest contest we must admit - the changes to the voting algorithm caused severe problems when the votes were finally collected.  But all issues have been resolved, and now the website voting, grading and ranking mechanisms are well oiled and twice tested.

So let’s have a look at who won the last contests, how and why…

The Kids in Action photo contest was a real battlefield last month. With 27 photos uploaded and 851 total votes there was some competition for the prize , an advanced NiteWhite teeth bleaching kit courtesy of a Toronto dentist.

The photo named Soccer Stand by a rather prolific user named  seattledredge (why does nobody ever capitalize their username?) garnered the most votes.

Uploaded on: 27 Jan the image was a late addition and still managed to win with a score of 215.80 points.

The Total Votes:      116
Popular rating:        8.4 (99 votes)
Registered rating:   7.1 (17 votes)

Congratulations seattledredge !

The Everyday Tangled Web photo contest got the most attention, and to some extent it went viral as phone service technicians called each other and shared their most horrific case studies with the public.  There were 28 photos uploaded into the competition, and these images accrued 1680 votes.  The classic pictures uploaded by members Tialdone and Phonemaster were exceptionally good, real pictures of everyday tangled webs clogging telephone service rooms and data racks.  This is what the sponsor most wanted the public to see as this is the particular type of mess they specialize in curing.

Not surprisingly however the winner was a much less technical image that caught the hearts and tickled the minds of voting patrons.

The photo of a colourful stuffed animal lost in the wires and cables that was uploaded by a user named mroy won the challenge with humour and grace. Her picture, This Looks Yummy carried the storyful caption: “My twin grandsons hid this toy for me to find. Took me 2 hrs to find it, hidden behind my computer.”  The image with caption earned a total score of  573.30 points.
Total Votes:             247
Popular rating:      8.5 (189 votes)
Registered rating: 7.4 (68 votes)

Congratulations mroy ! You win the Plantronics Voyager wireless headset courtesy of an office phone systems provider in Markham Ontario!

And finally,

The winner of the Best Gourmet Food photo contest was Berry Delicious!, a photo uploaded by another very prolific photographer, member named sausma1 that she snapped at her friend’s wedding.

The caption reads, ‘There’s nothing like the taste sensation of squeezing seasonal fresh berries in your mouth. These are Mini-Creme Brulee with fresh berries.’

The very attractive and informative picture scored of 119.30 points

Total Votes:              47
Popular rating:       6.9 (32 votes)
Registered rating:  6.3 (15 votes)

Congratulations sausma1 ! This talented shutterbug will now be joining myself (and last session’s Macro Photos of Life contest winner Bill Watson plus guest) and The Wine Ladies on the Locaboire Eastern Ontario wineries and breweries tour

Stay focused on the Lenzr blog for stories about the winners as they receive their prizes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The first contest period has ended now, September 1st 2009 and three winners have been declared. These members will soon be contacted by Lenzr admin re:  delivery of prizes, testimonials, and perhaps even candid self portraits. It was a very succesful launch and there were so many photos uploaded to the index we wondered about adopting some kind of photo Inventory Software to keep track of all the submissions in all different categories, and indeed this might be something we consider licensing in the future. In the meantime,

Best Toronto Skyline had 46 photos submitted, including some amazing shots with lightning and ducks and vintage shots of the skyline that have all together gathered up over 2500 votes.

The first contest was sponsored by Lenzr.com and brought a lot of attention to the site. The prize is a Pentax Optio P90 digital camera.

The winner is DuCourt, who describes himself in the third person in his Lenzr.com profile, “Thomas is a long-standing freelance film technician in the Toronto film industry who is attempting to transition into an on-set photographer”. That could explain the wide aspect ratio here.

The photo entitled Looking back is a wonderful panorama shot of the city and bears the Caption ‘I took this photo looking back from one of my favorite Toronto hang-outs - THE DOCKS driving range down on Cherry St.’ This photo won the prize with 107 green thumbs up.

Summer in Toronto had people snapping and submitting shots of anything and everything outdoors in Toronto . The rules were fast and loose to encourage mass participation.  This was the most successful contest with 58 pictures uploaded and over 3700 votes.

This contest was sponsored by myCELLmyTERMS and offers as reward one smart phone.

The winner is Snickerzmom, whose bio reads,  ‘just me, a great BF and three cats’.  She wins the grand prize with a picture of a man (her father?) at the Blue Jays game.

Dad at the Game had 112 green thumbs up and the caption may have contributed to the success of this image. Caption “This is one of my favourite pictures of my Dad. For me, enjoying the game with my Dad is one of the best things about TO. It’s our time!”

Stay tuned for more details on Snickerzmom meeting representatives of myCELLmyTERMS to declare her choice and receive the grand prize.

Which phone will she choose?
Emergency in Toronto had 15 photos and gathered over 300 total votes.

The contest was sponsored by Bristall Morgan and offers an Esquire Verve 2020 luxury watch as reward.

The winner is mpirra.  This photographer’s bio reads, ‘I have been an amateur photographer for the past 30 years. Would like to go pro one day‘.

The winning photo,  entitled Firefighter saving lives carries the helpful Caption “Toronto Firefighter returning from a fire”.  This image won the contest with 55 green thumbs up.

Emergency in Toronto event was the most rigidly thematic of Lenzr contest cycle #1. The web challenge tasked users to upload images of Toronto’s frontline emergency respeonse workers in action and because of the stern criteria it received the fewest votes, but perhaps the most attention. Some of our favourite photos have been uploaded here

This amazing woman is the Contest Queen, a very active contest participant and promoter with over twenty years experience and wisdom to share. She’s also a prolific author and thinker and a very informative and entertaining blogger.  Add it all up and Carolyn is a profoundly original web marketer that would probably like to be considered North America’s Contest Queen, and indeed that’s exactly what she’s becoming…

You can read all about Carolyn Wilman, the Contest Queen on Canada Blog Friends which has just recently profiled her and published her vision of the future. The author has once again gone to great lengths to get all the subject URLS in order, and link to all platforms and properties in Carolyn’s royal realm.

Buy her book You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter to read all her secrets.