Category Archives: Lenzr

Lenzr Update!

Lenzr

It’s that time again kids! I write a blog post, I get paid. You don’t see any Google Ads. Long one tonight so let’s begin:

Backyard Party Events Photos on Lenzr
Backyard Party Events is a photo contest which eerily reminds me of my days in catering where I was fed like a king but ate on milk crates in the back alleys behind the eyes of guests and clients. The sponsor for this particular contest is a Toronto party rentals company who are demanding pictures of people who stay at home and do it themselves, ie: renting tables, chairs, tents, wet bars, stages and fences for their own events. The photo contest is designed to immortalize the people that have rented the big stuff and made a memory that will stand the test of time.

These guys have warehouses that’s absolutely stuffed to the rafters with party making stuff. This place is a party bomb waiting to explode on somebody’s backyard. Check out the Toronto party rentals sponsor profile on the Lenzr blog.

The prize for the Lenzr member that uploads the highest ranked picture is a spiffy new 10×10 Popup Tent, and $500 Gift Certificate for anything in Absolute Tent and Event Services catalog. Got a wedding coming up in the spring? Get clicking!

Fire and Ice Photo Contest on Lenzr
The Fire and Ice photo contest on Lenzr is (okay… breathe…) the most spectacular (wheeze!) most incredible (gasp) most incomprehensible prize ever (wheezzeEVAR!) given away on Lenzr!

Okay time to filter out the hyperbole and get down to facts: Steve Hamoen of ZoneLife.ca is is a is a geothermal installer.  What does this mean? He’s a guy that brings to you cooling or heating solutions from our own mother Earth. Bless her soul. He finds solutions to regulating a blast of hot from lava or a soothing cool glass of water from the middle of Lake Ontario on a hot summer day. To me, it’s magic but he gets the job done somehow for home application.

The Prize is GeoAir PCO air purifier. Photo Catalytic Oxidation (PCO) is an “advanced air purifying technology that unlike existing air cleaning systems that rely solely on ultraviolet light, the GeoAir PCO device integrates a titanium dioxide semiconductor to leverage photocatalytic oxidation allowing it to vaporize indoor air pollutants, including those that cause odors, and break them down into non-toxic products like C02 and H20. Bacteria, viruses, mold spores don’t stand a chance and are destroyed when they come into contact with the system’s 187 square-inch Ti02 grid. All volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are destroyed. The system is cost-effective, maintenance-free and provides maximum energy efficiency with negligible resistance to airflow.” Meaning – crap goes in, good air comes out.

The contest is to capture contrasts in temperature: a hot fire in a snowbank, a poptart in a snowbank, an underwear model in a snow filled bus stop, etc. You get the picture.

How Green Are You? in Lenzr Photo Contest
The How Green Are You? photo challenge hopes to collect one sentence stories and snapshots of eco friendly notions submitted by Lenzr users that could be readily adopted by society in general. The organizers are hoping that the contest captures some great suggestions and becomes a repository of green ideas. Photographers are asked to be generous and share wisdom inside environmental theme images and art.

This contest is sponsored by a solar powered grass cutting business in Toronto Ontario that offer sustainable, organic services that is also a relatively silent; their Neuton battery powered lawnmowers are very quiet.  This service is just cutting into the GTA (geddit?) and needs this contest t o achieve some prime publicity. Good cause, say I.

This sponsor is competing in the 2010 Green Innovation Awards.  Every year the Toronto Community Foundation donates up to $50,000 to help green businesses get established in the competitive Toronto marketplace.

The prize winner gets a Neuton CE 6 Battery-Powered Mower with DURACELL® battery technology. There is no gas or oil to spill and no engine emissions to pollute the air, making lawnmowing as fun as an Xbox360 with fireworks sticking out of every port. Not really, but it certainly saves on dirty trips to Canadian Tire.

Obsolete Office Equipment
Obsolete Office Equipment is another dynamic challenge you can do around the workplace. Photograph the antiques that are still being used in today’s offices – which won’t be hard to do with everyone coming out of a recession. Water cooler shots of ancient co-workers not valid, ok? Show us the obsolete objects that are still relied upon by frontline staff and backroom employees and the people who manage them. I’m thinking of the 10 year old Mac mouse (the round hockey puck kind) that is above my desk, hanging like a trophy of dead technology

However if you have any rotary dial telephones, punch clocks, obsolete measuring devices and such, preferably with more wires coming out of it than Turing difference engine, that’s all the more better.

The prize courtesy of an office phone systems provider S.E. Telecommunications is a 4 Line business telephone AT&T Model 1070. This state-of-the-art technology piece has 4 line speakerphone & answering system capability. With Caller ID / Page / Intercom / Call transfer / Expandable to 16 stations / 32 # speed dial / 3 party conference. Perfect for someone starting a business or wanting to play Uhura on Star Trek.

Lenzr Update!

Distractions, Lenzr

Time to look in at Lenzr and see all the funky prizes you can win for being a shutter fly:

First up: Best Gourmet Food: Pretty self explanatory… make yourself some KD, sprinkle some oregano on it, macro lens that puppy and whammo! Prizes! The first prize is an Eastern Ontario wine and brewery tour package plus one night accommodation at Timberhouse in Brighton, ON. The GRAND PRIZE sounds like fun: spend time with The Wine Ladies as they grab material for their wine blog by taking you on an exclusive tour. (My minder described it as a “kooky tour” but I can’t bring myself to type that). Material from the tour may be used in promotional videos or even dah ta da daah… ebook companion media. High tech, eh wot? Kindle yourself!

Second comes Everyday Tangled Web: This one I can relate to. Take a picture of your tangled anything – hair, legs, yarn, wickedness, etc. Personally I have a drawer of dead technology and with dead technology comes massive power bricks and their long tails. Gaah! I hear you say in frustration – Get to the prize! The prize comes from an office phone system company, called S.E. Telecom and they’re giving away a Plantronics Voyager (if you’re not a Blackberry addict, that’s a Bluetooth wireless headset). See what they did there? Wireless…? See? Release your inner cyborg!

Lastly, and not leastly, is Kids In Action: Take a picture of your ADD addled spawn running around in a circle, or on a jungle gym or knocking over cans at Loblaws and post it. You can get yourself a set of really clean choppers! They’re giving away an advanced teeth whitening kit and a year’s supply of dental products including an “armful” of mouthwash, toothpaste, tooth brushes, dental floss; courtesy of a Toronto dentist named Dr. Natalie Archer DDS at Sherbourne and Bloor St. I’ve heard through word of mouth that she’s pretty good. See? See what I did there??

And as a side note, they’ve revamped the voting system to include votes (Popular Votes – visitors to the site don’t have to register but their vote is counted as “1”) and Super Registered Votes (Registered members who have actually uploaded an image get the power of 10x the vote). There is some involved algorithm thingy they’ve factored in but personally this sounds like a marketing dude and a programmer just tried to fix something that might have been broken but I don’t need to see the gory details. Lenzr: if the point is to get people to register and participate, remember the “What’s in it for me?” rule. I don’t wanna know about the math behind it, just make the deal sweet and I’m in! Sandra in the comments says

A thought on scoring: why not allow voting only on the last 5 days of the month?

I’d expand that and say you can vote the entire time, but keep the results hidden until the last 5 days. That might generate some urgency and excitement. Take that as you will, Lenzr. Do you have a Facebook Fan page yet? Twitter? No? What are you doing all day?!

Lenzr – No Xmas, Just Pix

Lenzr

Hello bloggers, bloggettes and blogophiles – it’s time for my monthly Lenzr post!

Macro photos of Life photo contest on Lenzr Up first is the Macro Photos of Life contest. Enbiggen small life forms into horrifying creatures and maybe make a art director deal with James Cameron if he ever does another Avatar (if you can wait that long). Macro photography is not my bag, really. Only if I’m shooting my own pores. They fascinate me how they get clogged so quickly. Regardless…

This contest is sponsored by an advanced Toronto Ontario Canada mobile app developer (ooo cryptic, eh?) who make a device called ShrinkRay – a powerful tool to port websites into mobile browser applications. Lord knows there are a few sites out there who could benefit from this DMS (device management system) – I’M POINTING AT YOU TORONTOIST.COM.

But Dead Robot! What is the prize? I hear you shout from your cubicle.

The prize, you eager beavers comes from Locaboires, folks  so anal about their food that they insist on eating only locally produced foods and drinking water, local fruit juices and beverages that are made within a hundred mile radius of their homes. For people living in Toronto this includes the wines of Eastern Ontario.

It’s a deluxe Locaboire vacation where you can drink the spirit of life in Prince Edward Co. in Eastern Ontario and enjoy their wine tour travel package for two adults (includes two meals and one night in a Brighton Ontario b&b).

Next contest up – something a little more focused… ha! See what I did there?

Medicinal Plants in Nature

Medicinal Plants in Nature harvests botanical photography.

Lenzr participants are asked to document a plant’s medical properties. The winner of the contest will be part scientist and part artist and overall someone with an eye for natural beauty.

Lenzr writes: “We expect to see fragrant tree moss, wild mushrooms, tree gum and grass. Anything with medicinal properties is welcome in this contest.” So my picture of Cat Grass may or may not be a qualifier. But they are looking for the fragrance of a healing plant to explode off your monitor.

Lenzr describes the prize: “There’s six different Neal’s Yard Remedies, created from botanical ingredients available as prize. This prize has been generously donated by Ontario best natural medicine clinic to the member that uploads the highest rated photo. That special photographer WINS Orange Flower Facial Oil, Yarrow & Comfrey Moisturizer, and White Tea Eye Gel, Orange Flower Facial Wash, Geranium & Orange Body Butter Rosewater Toner for a total retail value of $330.00″. Pretty sweet if you have some good pics of dandelions on your hard drive from last summer.

I’m so attracted to you! Or maybe just this next contest:

Ontario Tourist attractions 2Ontario Tourist Attractions is a 2 photo contest that captures the scenery, history, culture and geography of this great province.

No bald head shots of George Smitherman. Been there. Rubbed that.

This one is sponsored by Kanetix again, and as you know they specialize in delivering the lowest car insurance quotes and so when you click, consider using them to insure your car. It’s much more interesting than a gecko.

The winner of this contest gets a prize of $300 American Express gift certificate.

See the site for more details. Hop over and check them out! Or upload your own!

Lenzr Update

Gaming, Hobbies, Lenzr, Toronto

Just a mild reminder that Lenzr is still going on! You have one month of uploading, voting and winning!

This is my favorite so far in The Summer of Toronto contest!

Here’s my all time grooviest fave in (echo machine) Emergency In Toronto onto onto to!

Skyline In Toronto is a toss up for me. Like this early contender because it looks like it was taken with a 110 Kodak camera. But this one is pretty stunning, if not a bit “postcardy”

Get in there! Vote!

Lenzr – A Win/Win Contest

Distractions, Lenzr, Toronto

lenzrlogosmallThis might excite RodTO a bit…

Lenzr is a new photo site that I am proud to say I’m going to help market for the next while. “What is it, other than a rift on the Flickr name,” you inquire? Glad you asked. From their promotional email:

Lenzr is a local photo contest that awards real prizes to people who upload the most popular photos as graded by the membership. Photographers gain exposure + links and the chance at winning cool prizes. Public gets free entertainment (and coupons in future cycles) and access to archives
full of local photos.

Three summer contests launched earlier in July will end midnight August 31st 2009.

So imagine it’s a “Hot or Not” contest where companies offer prizes for the best photos, ensuring their marketing presence online, while we the public get to look at a ton of cool pics while we’re bored at work. Registration is not necessary to vote, but it’s a great way to know when things are changing on the site.

Currently there are three contests going on:

best_summerSummer in Toronto:
What does Summer in the big city mean to you? With the strike I am sure it means big piles of steaming garbage but let’s go past that… Regardless what is posted, the winner gets their choice of smartphone like the iPhone, Blackberry or Pre (and more).


best_emsEmergency in Toronto:
Don’t waste your pics on useless CTV or CityTV web uploads that offer little in return (ooo my name was mentioned on CP24! BAH!). Post your EMS worker bolting into action and you can win a Esquire Verve men’s watch. Got a great arrest shot from that drunk party that was busted up? Was your car rolled on the 401 and you have a nice picture of the Jaws of Life cutting you out? Post it! Time is money!


best_skylineBest Toronto Skyline:
This is the first official Lenzr contest. Simply put, take an amazing shot of our fair city’s profile, post it, tell your friends to vote and bingo bongo, a brand new Pentax Optio P70 compact camera (that shoots 720HD video too!) is in your hot grubby hands.


Want to get a hint on what might be coming up? Want to comment or contact Lenzr? Visit Lenzr’s blog for insider info and schweet schwag! Wanna talk about it? Toronto Forums has made their own section for Lenzr. Chat it out people!

In each contest there are minor stipulations and provisions which you need to read, but you’re not signing over your first born. I wish to damn hot goo I could enter some of these contests. But I will be voting so leave nice comments, people.

Get out there and get clicking!