Lenzr.com: New Look, New Contests

Lenzr.com has been quietly revolutionizing the concept of online storytelling for the past two years through its serial photo contests. Now, as of June 1, 2011, Lenzr.com has an updated website featuring new technology so compelling it’s possible that photo contests may be the next big thing in terms of online marketing. It’s still essentially the same great site: budding photographers compete with each other, upload photos to the sponsored contests, persuade their friends and family to vote on their work and vie for real prizes whilst participating in a competitive, but also encouraging, photography community.

What the new site offers that the old Lenzr.com never had are ‘Community Contests’. These contests can be set up by anyone (an individual, business or organization) at any time, to show (not tell) the world about a story topic of their choice.

In addition to these exciting new changes, Lenzr.com has just launched four new sponsored contests, for prizes of laptops and digital cameras!

Summer Photo Contests on Lenzr.com

The Construction Sights photo contest is hoping to receive submissions illustrating a necessary summer protocol in the city: Construction. Like the glass analogy, there are two ways of looking at construction sites–positive or negative. On one hand, it’s hot, there’s dust flying around, and your bus has been detoured thanks to another construction delay. On the other hand, roads are being improved, housing is being created and many people are busily employed with construction work. There are two sides to this story–show us how you feel about the Construction Sights in your area and win!

The prize is a Sony laptop, courtesy of this contest’s sponsor, a family-owned Ottawa roofing company.

The Best Office Staff Party is looking to see submissions that juxtapose a stuffy office environment with a rollicking good time. How does your office let loose? Mini cupcakes? Interns working the ‘bar’? Who’s the life of the party–your boss? Show us your hilarious office party moments and don’t forget to include a sentence or two to put the photo in context. Also, while we want to see shots of people having a great time, make sure your co-workers are OK with your entry before submitting it–we are not responsible for any trouble you might cause!

The prize is a Sony laptop, thanks to an incredible IT staffing agency located in downtown Toronto.

The A Counting Exercise photo contest is looking for submissions featuring a repeating visual pattern to be counted. Tap into your inner Count von Count and take a look at the world from an arithmomaniac’s perspective: sure, those may be faces in a crowd, lines on the highway or a handful of pretzel sticks, but they’re counting exercises, too! Get creative with this one–this contest has received a lot of entries already featuring many amusing counting exercises. Show your never-ending profile in a three-way mirror, the Lego pieces your kids left all over the floor or a parking lot full of bicycles in a progressive European country–give the Lenzr judges something to count and you could win!

The prize is a Sony laptop, courtesy of this contest’s sponsor, a team of North York accountants.

Finally, the Shafts of Sunlight photo contest is looking to see tangible lines of natural sunlight in the submissions. There is something divine about the way light can take on the appearance of matter–observe in the picture to the right–these shafts of sunlight look almost like monkey bars sent down from the heavens. Try to capture a similar effect in your photo. This is the most specific contest; the rules state very clearly that shafts of sunlight, not other light tricks, are the desired outcome. Snap the most spectacular shaft of sunlight and you may win!

The prize is a Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera, courtesy of the contest’s sponsor, fittingly, a sunrooms installer.

2011 Antique Bottles Show and Sale in Toronto

The history of the industrial age is written in glass. The ‘slug plates’ that make the embossed labels in Canadian whiskey, soda, dairy, liquor and medicine bottles, read like pages in a book.  The names of the merchants and the contents of the vessels are from a simpler time of men and machines.

There is no better place to study this history then at a large bottle show in an urban center. The area’s most valuable glass is on display and the dealers are storytellers with lots of rare and precious knowledge locked up in their heads.

The annual Toronto Bottle Show, was Sunday April 17th 2011.

The annual Toronto Bottle Show event is produced by the Four Seasons Bottle Collectors, one of Canada’s oldest and most respected clubs.  On this wet and rainy Sunday afternoon, more than forty antiques dealers tables proffered over 5,000 glass bottles, crocks, jugs, cans, cards, comics and period advertising pieces on tables inside the Humber College gymnasium.

In the picture above you can see Dwight Fryer sitting behind a massive collection of pretty blue and green ‘window bottles’.  These are actually poison bottles and he’s one Canada’s foremost poison bottles experts – almost all of the very pretty cobalt blue and green and amber glass you see here was priced to sell quickly between $30 and $50 each, and Dwight was selling off these gorgeous glass bottles hand over fist. It was a moment in time.

If you study glass bottles you’ll find there’s no better place to see such a huge assembly of everything that’s decent and worthy of display in the antique glass bottle collecting discipline.  Here’s some of the great stuff.

These are absolute treasures – look here at the aqua green and cobalt blue torpedo bottles in Terry Matz display case . These are all dated between 1855 -1885 and they are all super rare. The average price for any bottle in that display case is approx $1200.  The guy sitting behind all those pretty torpedo bottles is Terry Matz, and he’s an expert and very passionate storyteller.

There not making anymore of these salt glazed stoneware jugs.

A real sweet spot for buying antique bottles,

Old advertising signs are growing harder to find and more valuable because they look great in modern offices and condominiums. The contrast between the new building and old signs is cool. The white walls need old paper posters, framed glass pictures and painted metal panels , and two or three colour wood or good condition cardboard advertisements. There are a lot of freshly painted white walls in our society that need embellishing with antique signs

People generally bring really rare, one-of-a-kind pieces to the bottle show.

The fellow named Ed Locke, seen in the photo to the right, brought in a Solnhofen Stone printing slab which was used in the early days of lithographic printing – $150 this piece shows an early advertisement for a Brandon Manitoba brewery which is also extremely rare.seen below

This is real early lithographic printing technology with a period  advertisement stamped on the surface of the limestone.  The piece stands as a reminder of how far we have come; there is a lot of water under the bridge in the evolution of this platform to the digitally replications done today. Our modern printable coupons have barcodes and expiry dates. To make such a system in the 1800s would mean hand carving a new stone for every coupon issued  Yet there are examples of the world’s first discount media buyers doing exactly that in the early 1900s. This exremely fine limestone block may only be obtained from one quary in Solnhofen Germany.

The history of pop bottles and beer bottles is another fascinating chapter in this Canadian history book. The screw cap is a very recent invention, and today’s most dominant closure method.

The closure mechanisms slowly evolved from simple corks to cod stoppers and complex ‘gravitating stoppers’, hinged plugs and Charles G. Hutchinson’s five bottle-stopper patents.

Here’s a cream and tan stoneware ginger beer bottle from a proprietor named H. Christin who was a brewer in Ottawa in the 1880s. This vessel was made by Brantford Pottery right here in Ontario, or  ‘Upper Canada’ as it was then known.

This bottle had a cork stopper and from this point forward there would be many different closures vying to be the dominant method. The crown cap became industry standard for this type of beverage in the 1920s.

Sharpen your eyes for cottage kitsch

Cottagers know that Kitcsh is King and the most simple furnishings and colourful trappings look great in cottages. The bottle show has lots of stuff with charm and character like some Mennonite furniture and folk art,

The chemistry of our culture dictates that cottages needs campy collectibles to feel cozy.

The modern Muskoka cottage suffers from being too sophisticated, clean and culturally void of character

Each new domicile in the Muskoka Lakes needs large amounts of kitsch to look and feel more quaint. So many of the million dollar mansions that border Lake Muskoka are ultra modern constructions. They’re not made of pine or poplar anymore – they’re not timber frame houses at all, but rather insulated concrete forms , steel and glass monstrosities.  They lack the quaint charm of a cottage and often feel too sanitary. They dont have the charm of a family cottage, but rather feel like a house in the suburbs.

Things that look great in new cottages include,  utilitarian items like 1950′s 60s and 70s kitchenware and beer coolers, antique fishing lures, vintage boating equipment, art deco furniture and native crafts. These items find ready buyers in antique markets and in online auctions

I wrote a longer and more detailed account of the 2011 Toronto Bottle Show on Dumpdiggers blog; it’s about ten pages of text with over twenty pictures. The piece profiles 15 of the 35 dealers present at the show.

Expressive Arts Therapist Explores The Distillery District

Ruth Wilgress, a Toronto artist and expressive arts therapist has now officially taken over the reins of the Daily Distillery blog reporting on life  inside this historic complex. She’s busy doing updates, profiling the artists and their exhibitions, restaurants and theatres, coffee shops and bakeries, furniture stores and gift shops that make the district so uniquely special.

Here she is hanging out with Amber and Anna from Tapestry, a not for profit Canadian opera development company that’s just absolutely cool!   Ruth writes about these people because she believes that anywhere artists can find support and get the proper resources to be creative in their disciplines must be celebrated, and promoted online.  These types of organizations, and the tireless passion of these people really helps make our culture more profound; as Canadian citizens their local works of music and dance makes us all richer – especially when they tell our stories. You can read Ruth’s article on Amber and Jenn from Tapesty on Daily Distillery, and maybe attend an upcoming event. Ruth encourages her readers to show your support by buying tickets.

Jacques Surveyer was recently profiled on Canada Blog Friends

After almost three months without any updates, Canada Blog friends sprang to life again this week with an update on another great Canadian blogger. Jacques Surveyer from Cobourg Ontario is profiled on Canada Blog Friends and forever documented as a web business blogger and consultant with a penchant for photography. Jacques is quite skilled in the art of using photo finishing software to manufacture amazing images.

I was particularly moved by the story about – some thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article was that Jacques is giving free blog workshops in Cobourg to help spread the knowledge of what’s possible these days to help people in the rural community.

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Cafe Culture: Balzac’s in The Distillery District, Toronto

Espresso bars have become a very common fixture in Toronto neighbourhoods, but a lot of them feel boring to me.

That’s not the case with Balzac’s Coffee Roasters, which has one location in Liberty Village and one in the Distillery District. Both are nice spaces that have been around for quite awhile, but it’s the Distillery spot I really dig. It’s in an old building with high ceilings and tons of character. Think exposed brick, a wooden bar with a marble top, wicker chairs, a giant antique looking chandelier, and a staircase to a more private upper seating area. The pastry case, crammed with croissants, scones and glass jars of various cookies, squares and biscotti, is easy to drool over.

And then there’s the coffee, which is rich, bold and always very fresh. Balzac’s uses their own beans, which can be bought for home use, and also offers the usual rundown of espresso-based drinks (cappuchino, latte, Americano, etc.) and a selection of tea from the prestigious Mariage Freres brand from Paris. I’ve never had a bad drink there. Another pro? The takeaway cups are 100% biodegradable and compostable. Plus, they look a lot nicer than Starbucks cups.

The cafes don’t have Wifi, which I assume is a deliberate choice since the space seems much better suited to reading books than reading iPads. It would be nice to be able to do work from there, but I guess it can’t be everything to everyone.

The Do Over Day Holiday is February 26th, Everywhere

Do Over Day is Feb 26th All Over The world!

National Do Over Day is the magic occasion in which you really can take back a moment or re live an emotional response to something.  The event can be positive or you could use the time to turn something negative into something positive – or I suppose you could go entirely negative and then perhaps do it over again next Feb 26th.  What I’m saying is the opportunity exists on that day to actualize an emotional crumb and sweep it clear one way or the other.

On the Do Over Day National Holiday website you will find some funny bits and tips, tactics, videos and amusing ecards to help you on your journey.

Do you know how many people regret talking to an attractive stranger, and listed this missed opportunity as the number one thing they wish they could do over? I dont know either – you will have to visit the site to find out. I do know that the stat prompted me to consider building a website for missed opportunities.

Do Over Day eCards!

myCELLmyTERMS Captures $400K on CBC Dragons’ Den

Dragons Den episode4 , Season 4 played at 8pm Wednesday night, Oct 21st on CBC television. This is always very exciting television and last night was no exception as the investors were at their best, and the business that came walking in was all very interesting…  But honestly nothing looking super profitable, except the four men from a new start-up web service that hopes to revolutionize the way Canadians buy cell time. That could be very profitable…

myCELLmyTERMS started strong as Kye Husbands explained how their process was an improvement on today’s existing service model, because on their website the customer chooses his own cellular service rate plan with all the desired trimmings, and then myCELLmyTERMS goes out and does the legwork to try and find dealers that are interested in aquiring the new business and willing to match each request point for point. This is win win as the customer gets ultimate choice and the dealer has the account…  Yes the team was doing very well, until Kevin asked about ‘the monthlies’ and thats when it was revealed that the team was only charging Dealers a one time fee…

Kevin was upset at not getting any reoccurring revenue and his dissatisfaction was echoed in the expressions and statements of the other investors – Brett seemed anxious to get Kevin out of the arena and he would have left had Arlene not entered a bid of $200K cash and 200K in services.

Kevin wanted to ‘squeeze their heads’ but Brett joined Arlene by offering to provide 100K worth of cash for a quarter of Arlene’s deal.  And so that’s how it broke down. Paul Peic had the most transcending moment of the encounter when he leapt up on the riser to give Arlene a hug and a handshake as they accepted her offer.

This morning, I read @myCELLmyTERMS twitter update that reported that myCELLmyTERMS had over 10,000 visitors last night, and so right now I’m sure all four entrepreneurs are working hard,  busy helping Canadians get better rates for cellular service.

Pageant Produces Literature, Miss Teen Canada Posts Blog

This year, Miss Teen Canada World 2009 is a 16 year old girl from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan named Siera Bearchell. She looks every bit the part too – she’s a natural born celebrity and Canada’s freshest princess.

She’s also blogger – which is good news because that means we can actually read about what its like to become an instant star, for real

Siera is a writer so she has detailed the events and described her emotions in  a Miss Teen Canada World post called Preparation Week on her the journal found online at the Miss Teen Canada World website. This is the real thing – awesome content from the heart that written by a 16 year old beauty queen genius. 

New Blog in New Brunswick

There is a new blog in Saint Johns New Brunswick called the Port City Post. This new platform is the property of a Canadian woman who has taken on the task of dutifully reporting the happenings of her hometown.  This blog is a new inside look at the port of Saint Johns, New Brunswick Canada.

Tina McWilliams with the support of her husband Jordan has planted a germ of an idea – a very good idea – in a WordPress blog Petrie dish.
Soon we may see a forest of amazing content that relates to that wonderful city by the sea.

Tina needs to get work installing the monikers of online community in her blog sidebar, and she needs to register with some upscale blog indexes and swim in deeper water… Also her posts are too long and need more pictures and subtitles. These are the hallmarks of a beginning blogger with passion to spare but no style yet… it will happen… real soon.

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Lenzr is for local images of specific cities

Looking for local photographers? Check out a new photo contest website that has just appeared online in Toronto to engage shutter bugs and bloggers in unique assignments recording precious moments in their neighbourhoods. The web destination brokers one specific commodity, local pictures, and right now its just local pictures of Toronto skylines, but someday it’ll contain “local”pictures of cities all over the world – images that are local to voters in every major market.

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Best Toronto Skyline asks visitors to rate pics with the city on the horizon.

Contest ends midnight August 31st 2009 when the winner triumphantly collects a 12-megapixel Pentax Optio P70 wide-angle 4x optical zoom lens (27.5-110mm equiv.) and 2.7 inch LCD display, the camera can also capture 720p HD video at 15 fps.

Lenzr.com contests last for sixty days; there are six contest periods every year – all this is described on All Canada Contests.

Mass Graves for Chinese Workers in 1880′s CN railway

Twenty-four years ago I was walking down a dirt road near my childhood home in Northern Ontario with my father and his friend. As we approached a railway crossing, my father’s friend started talking about the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Of course, I was only five or six at the time and had little understanding of Canadian history. I remember my dad’s friend saying “You know, it’s a damn shame how many Chinese laborers lost their lives working on this railway in the 1870’s.”

I recall being both perplexed and saddened by the idea of people coming from such a faraway place just to build a railroad only to lose their lives in the end. Then the conversation shifted to the subject of a Chinese graveyard. According to this friend the graveyard was somewhere nearby.

I grew up in Kenora Ontario, and every summer I would search for the remains of that graveyard.

Today it remains one of my foremost challenges. Ancestry Guru will, among other things, document this personal endeavour.

Kyle Muir