One of the best parts of my job as Managing Director of Lenzr Corp is walking to work in the morning through the Distillery Historic District in Toronto. Located at 55 Mill Street, south east of Front and Parliament, this is one of the oldest parts of the city and was originally the busy lakefront up until the 1870s. I used to work as a grip in the film business, and I’d get called to shoot movies here in the 1990s, which was before it was restored to its present glory.  Today the compound is still filled with cinematic old buildings and beautiful cobblestone streets, but also accommodates a thriving community of artists and theatre workshops, cafes, galleries, stores and specialty markets. The area has been preserved as much as possible to accommodate museum quality historic artifacts and tell the life story of a large Canadian distillery, Gooderham and Worts 1842 - 1921. These people made the rye whiskey that was drank all across the Canadian and American West.

Its always interesting to me to see the work that’s involved in creating a live event. The Toronto Christmas Market is a massive spectacle that will attract a quarter of a million people to the Distillery venue over the next sixteen days. Everyone is hoping for snow.

In this picture you can see a suction pump machine is draining the marshy land underneath the new clock tower. Getting a firm foundation in The Distillery is difficult because the water table is high.

Working in combination with the event planners and Distillery District staff, I am proud to announce that Lenzr.com was chosen to power the Official Toronto Christmas Market Photo Contest which collects and displays images right on the Toronto Christmas Market website.

This world class event runs from Dec 2nd to December 18th, 2011- the photo contest runs until Jan 1st. Voting begins on the 15th and ends on Jan 25th. The sponsor is the sole judge.

The photo challenge has been created to secure the most beautiful picture(s) taken at the event - the Distillery District is keen to show the best snaps that capture the true essence of this festive assembly.

The winning photo will almost definitely be used in the 2012 Toronto Christmas Market advertising campaign, both on the website and in print, published in Distilled Magazine with proper photo credit.  Because there’s nothing worse than winning a big prize and then finding your shot expropriated and used everywhere without any consideration.

There are three prizes:

Winner will receive a $250.00 cash prize,
2nd place will receive a $250.00 restaurant gift certificate
3rd place will receive a $100.00 restaurant gift certificate.

Also on Lenzr, House For Renovation by Toronto Mortgage Broker

Lenzr members have been very busy in the last month uploading sensational snaps of derelict houses and barns and buildings that could really use either a wrecking ball or the womanly touch of a property developer who would preserve them. House for Renovation is making history by collecting over a hundred images of historic properties. This is a photo preserve to stand the test of time. Renovation properties are a hot subject on cable television right now, but they have always been of interest to photographers. Old houses and shacks are storytfull scenery with people in the foreground, or wonderful subjects all by themselves. The prize is an Apple iPad2 courtesy of a successful Toronto mortgage broker with a great team located in the High Park area of the city. These guys are very experienced in the local Toronto mortgages, and international US mortgages, commercial mortgages and residential real estate mortgages.

Electronic Engineering Photo Contest on Lenzr for Reed Switch Maker

The Electronic Engineering photo contest on Lenzr is sponsored by a reed switch designer and wants to see the actual electronic mechanisms inside of things. The contest page copy leads with a cry to compel members to crack open their clock radios and spill out the circuit board guts. ‘Break into your obsolete electronics and showcase the components. Let’s see dusty old chips and thermostats, fuses, filters and fans - can you tell an amazing story with only microchips?’

The prize is an Apple iPad 2 courtesy of a reed switch component designer that makes and distributes these magnetic marvels to many home electronics producers in Canada and USA.

Tags: Christmas Market, Distillery District, Electronic Engineering, Gooderham & Worts, historic buildings, Lenzr photo contest, mortgage broker, reed switch, Toronto

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 at 10:59 am and is filed under Interactive, Lenzr, Photography, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, Web Resource, corporate social responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.