Pix of Toronto

Archive for the ‘phototale’ Category

One of the attractions of the Apple Blossom Festival in Colborne ON is the reappearance like flower blossoms of the classic cars and trucks at the various Shows and Festivals throughout Ontario. And hidden in the valleys, farmyards, and cottages of South Eastern Ontario are some real beauties. Here is a favorite a look back to foggy memories of my Dad’s 1950′s era Mercury sedan. It is truly a foggy memory because this classic has been prepped and primed with a lot of “beauty touches”:

Ahh the smooth moving Mercury

Here is the full range of cars and trucks, quite a lot of the latter, to be seen at the Apple Blossom Tyme Festival:

Ye editor, did not see the announcement of the Winners in the Show, so you will have to be contented with my own personal favorite:

Now ye Editor can just imagine himself percolating down the street in this very fine Yellow Chevy Pickup…..

Blooms mean spring and Eastern Ontario’s Lilac Festival is a celebration of the Blooms of Spring. And if you missed the Lilac festival, the upcoming Apple Blossom Tyme Festival in Coborne is more than worthy as  a Spring time outing of family fun and shopping for Antiques, Art, or just kids fun. And the flower blossoms, despite the cool and rainy weather, were finally out in full tulipean and daffodillian force.

But along with the Spring blooms the city is ready. The houses have been spruced up, the trees trimmed, the kids playing summer sports and the flowers as noted – finally blooming.

The Warkworth Lilac Festival has two nifty ideas. First, celebrate Spring with the appearance of the Lilac blooms – especially on a wonderful creek side trail that wanders for 2 kms along the winding  river path and is planted with over 3 dozen  beds replete with various Lilac bushes. Second,  along that trail have several events including an flower walk +talk plus an  eventide song chorus.  The Millenium Lilac Trail is a wonderful walk in the park at all times of the year; but especially in the Spring.

But the Lilac Festival celebrates more than Spring. There is a gardening show with a talk by Mark Cullen and fun for the kids with Buskers and a BMX demonstartion. But ye Editors personal favorite is the Art Show upstream in the riverside park along Main street. Local artist have their works on display including some great wood craft.

Hamilton Woodworks provides some smooth wood lathings
This year the art works were quite provocative with a few rather colorful stylings to say the least:

Bikes and Cars on Show

Fascination with motorbikes and classic cars runs pretty strongly in ye Editor’s family. And based on the turnout of Bikers and Classic car admirers, the Lilac Festival tapped into a fairly broad interest. The Classic Cars at the fairgrounds had a fifties turn that reminded one of a first car that rode like a smoothee and should never have been sold. And the bikers turned out on Main street with the Durham Divas, a womanly woman group of very genial bikers riding some very fine cycles. And the slide show below has proof positive of the cycle of classic  delights to be found at the Festival.

Summary

The Lilac Festival has a very accessible mix of kids fun and adult gardening and art crafts to serve the Victoria Day weekend well. Locals got to discover a wonderful walk/running trail riverside while visitors found a number of delights including the warm sunshine,  flowers in bloom, special events, plus  crafts for sale both at the Art Show and Warkworth’s downtown shops to make for an engrossing days outing.

Spring is my favorite time of year because Nature’s colors are a rare delicate and pastel hue. In short it is a season to imbibe and enjoy as a new cycle of vernal sounds, fragrances and colors cover the landscape. And if ye Editor is not mistaken, there is an invigoration in step and mood throughout the countryside. In short, Spring is prime picture taking time. And this year there are more opportunities to share those pictures by way of photo contests.

Canadian Photo Contests

A camera club buddy is very fond of the Canadian Geographic Societies free Photo Club – and ye Editor can see why. They have weekly contests called Shoot This as well as special annual prize-winning contests. Here is a sample of the weekly contest winning photos for the last two weeks:

Shoot This – Bicycles


For Shades of Blue – Bubbles

Here are some additional photocontests that may be of interest including two sponsored by PixofCanada. As well Lenzr.com has a number of ongoing photo contests that have prizes associated with them. The categories are off beat and often quite specific. But the prizes are nifty and the photo contests are easy to enter, photo copyrights are protected by the Creative Commons License, and you can enter multiple times if you want. Finally we have found some additional contests occurring this Spring which may catch your fancy.

sponsor – Clip Click Deals printable couponsPrize: $500 in groceries from your favorite food store	sponsor – Kingspan Insulated Metal Panels Prize: Sony Cyber-shot® H70 Digital Camera, very nice
sponsor – Muskoka Cottage Online Prize: Sony Cyber-shot® H70 Digital Camera	sponsor – ToughRoof commercial roofers Prize: Sony Cyber-shot® H70 Digital Camera
Warkworth Maple Syrup Festival concluded April 15th, 2011	Colborne ON Apple Blossom Tyme Fest – May 27-29thPrizes: Nikon Compact Camera, Photoshop Book
sponsor -Canada’s History Magazine- July 25, 2011 closing datePrize: 8 day adventure in Labrador and Greenland	sponsor -City of Toronto, Doors Open – May 28, 29Prizes: TBA

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What is neat about a Lenzr Photo Contest is that not only are there gobs of photo competitions but also the many categories actually stimulate some crazy creative image ideas. So they are fun and there are some great prizes to be had. The other photo contests are more location specific, you must attend the event or have visited the site.

Summary
As a photo buff, Ye PixofCanada editor certainly enjoys the prospect of getting some Spring time pictures for photo contests. In summer and Fall there will be more photo contest so readers will be kept posted. In the meantime try some of these contests or let us know of your own favorites in the comments below.