photojunkie

When I started my site in the fall of 2000 I never thought it would encompass my life the way it has. I never would have thought it would open so many doors and connect me with some many people both far and wide. Now here I am in my 7th year and I’m still going at it. The URL has changed several times over and the content has evolved from interest to interest, with the readership base changing in and out. But the concept has remained the same. The concept of sharing myself, whether it be through my photos, experiences or just casual hypertexting.

At some point today, I’m gonna hit the one million mark, which I’ve probably already hit over a year ago, if I hadn’t switched counters awhile back. What does that mean? It means a lot of hours, a lot of viewers and hopefully a lot more. Possibly an impact? The site has really impacted my life experiences over the years and I hope I have made some sort of impact on you as well, regardless of size.

So what lays ahead? I don’t know if I can answer that question, because every year, I look back and realize how many new and different experiences I have. Opportunities that have arisen from the unexpected. Moments that can’t be predicted. Hopefully, you’ll tag along for the ride.

What I would like to say is Thank you for being a part of this adventure, Thank you for your support and Thank you for your friendship.

PS: I’ll be announcing the rest of the giveaway winners on Friday, so check in to see if you won anything.

Flickr URL * http://www.flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/365539411/

I’m not giving away just one or two cameras. I actually have 3 plastic cameras that I am going to put in the ring for the photojunkie one million giveaway extravaganza. I have one Diana F camera with box and flashunit, no bulbs. And I have two Jazz Zoom cameras that I dug up, which include outdated film and batteries. These cameras are fully operationally and are getting harder and harder to find. So don’t miss out on this opportunity. I’ll even throw in a roll of film to the winner of the Diana-F.

Since we are inching closer to the 1 million mark (see the counter on the side) I am gonna draw for these prizes once we hit our goal, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

To register for one of these prizes, simply leave a comment on this post which will entitle you to one ballot or link to this post from your blog and receive an extra.

REMINDER: There is also an SX-70 up for grabs.

I had just finished spending an evening with my friend Kristi in Georgetown, after getting her son a copy of Gears of War for the Xbox360. So on my way home I decide to swing by the Value Village in Mississauga. That’s where i ended up finding this beauty for a mere $1.99. You gotta love a good thrift find. What a steal.

The peeled finish off the top of the camera is where the Value Village employee put the price sticker, otherwise it seems to be in pretty good condition. Of course it’s been untested, but I may try to put a cartridge of 600 film in here in the next week.

Anyway, I suppose I could make a pretty penny with this on Ebay, but like the title suggests, I’m giving this classic camera away as a part of my 1 millionth visitor giveaway extravaganza. Detail on how to qualify after the jump.

UPDATE
After a test, which basically cost me more than what I paid for the camera. I can honestly say that the SX-70 is in working order.

Flickr URL * http://www.flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/354559484/

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The fine folks at Buena Vista Games and High Road has tossed a copy of Lumines II and Every Extend Extra for us to giveaway [details after the jump]. Since I don’t have a PSP and since my sister does and has played both, here is what she has to say about these two titles.

Lumines II is a puzzle game where squares of various 2 coloured patterns fall from the top of the screen and the player must move and rotate the pieces to create blocks of a single colour. The bigger the blocks, the higher your score. While you do this, a timeline moves repeatedly from left to right clearing these single coloured areas, giving room for you to do more of the same. If nothing is cleared, the blocks will stack up and once they reach the top, it’s game over. This sequel boasts more levels (or skins) and more play modes than the original. It also features hit tunes from famed artists such as Black Eyed Peas, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani and Beck. Tetris junkies will fall in love with this game.

Every Extend Extra is also a puzzle game but with a shooter twist. You control a cursor that moves across a playing field which slowly populates with other floating shapes and you must destroy them by self detonating when they are in close proximity to you. This explosion causes the shapes to explode and the shapes close to them to explode and so forth. Think Geometry Wars (or Asteroids for you old schoolers) but in reverse — instead of a small ship that explodes moving objects that are attacking it by shooting at them, the moving objects are shooting at you and you clear them by exploding yourself. It’s unique presentation is engaging and hypnotic. If you love watching your music player visualization with a passion, you’ll likely enjoy this game too.

Both games have bright, colourful, stylized visuals that look fantastic on that beautiful PSP screen and the trippy electro synth music found in both games’ levels change along with the moves you make. The overall result are two highly addictive and totally immersive gameplay experiences.

Perhaps this giveaway will give you a reason to dust off that PSP, if not maybe one of these downloadable demos will inspire your PSP love-on.

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The Holiday season definitely slows down volume of traffic on the internet. Everybody seems to have better stuff to do. But now we’re getting deeper in January and much closer to our one million goal. With 45000 visitors left to go we seem to be dragging our feet, but hopefully we’ll reach our goal in February if not sooner. Today I’m announcing a whole pile of winners. but in the coming days I’ll be announing a whole slew of new prizes.

Gears of War
Gear of War was the most anticpated game of 2006 for the Xbox 360. And luckily we snagged a copy to giveaway to one of our readers. Hopefully they won’t lose too many hours of sleep once they start playing it. Thanks to the folks at Microsoft and HighRoad for the game. The winner is Troy from Blue Goo Ate My Mom.

Eragon
I first read Eragon a couple of years ago after a fellow Harry Potter fan suggested the book to me. I was quick fan of the book and have since read the second in the trilogy. Thanks to Random House Canada we have a copy to give away. The winner of the paperback version of Eragon is Dane from End of the Boardwalk. Enjoy.

Cheap Eats Toronto/Ottawa Set
There is nothing more inspiring than DIYers in action. That’s the story behind Alexa Clarke and her Cheap Eats books. Having editions for both Toronto and Ottawa Alexa has been offering up some of the best and most affordable places to eat around each city. Thanks To Alexa for donating this prize pack. I have two more sets to give away in the coming weeks, so it’s not to late to get in on this action. The winner of the first set is Paul from Canadian Musings.

Desperate Housewives
Oh I wish I had a PC again, so I could play such a mindless and twisted game like Desperate Housewives the Video Game. Just imagine the drama I could create amongst the neighbours. I’ve already given two of these away and will still have one more to give away after today, so it’s not too late to sign up for this one either. Thanks again to the folks at Buena Vista and High Road for the copy of the game. This week the winner is Alisha at Fellow Eskimo.

Spacing
So I’ve been a contributor to Spacing Magazine for a few years now. And it’s always amazing what they put out there. Although I think one of the things they will be remembered for most is their series of Subway Buttons. The kind folks at Spacing have kindly donated a Downtown Station set of buttons as well as a pile of 2007 Spacing calendars. Olena from PhotOlena wins the set of buttons. And the calendars go to Daisyhead, Perpetual Beta, I dream in colours and Sum Ting Wong with Chu Hefner.

NOTE: The Jim Munroe Giveaway is still open as well.

Met up with Dead Robot yesterday to give him his copy of Desperate Housewives, The Video Game. Looks like he started playing it as soon as he got home. I wonder how the Ice Queen is doing with hers.

Back in the 98 I picked up the book Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask. It was the first book by author Jim Munroe, (ex managing editor of Adbusters) and I picked it up because it “looked” interesting. I wasn’t disappointed and it was a fun read especially because of it’s Toronto centric storyline. At the time, my sister was dating this kid named Kevin who’s brother was buds with Jim, which I thought was pretty cool. Who would have thought that I could say years later that he was my bud as well.

Fast forward to March 2003. By this point in time, Jim left his publishing company and has since written and released two more novels under his No Media Kings umbrella. I was down in Austin, Texas for SWSW interactive when I happened to have lunch at the same table with Jim. Small world.

Later that year, I was one of the few that got to read and comment on early versions of his latest book An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil, which was written as a series of blog postings.

I have always found inspiration in talented Do-it-Yourselfers like Jim and we’re pleased to be able to have a set of all his books (I have read and enjoyed them all) as a prize in the Million Giveaway.

If you are new to Jim Munroe, you can get a taste of his work at manybooks.net where you can download 2 of his works for free.

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One of the best books I received this year was a copy of CheapEats Toronto. It’s a great compilation of places to dine in the city of Toronto that won’t break the bank. It’s also a useful guide for trying new places out without the horror of regretting your decision afterward.

Alexa Clark has graciously donated 3 copies of CheapEats Toronto to my Million Giveaway as well as 3 copies of it’s sister book CheapEats Ottawa (2004 Edition). If you can’t wait to get the book or need a dining idea ASAP, also check out the companion blogs for each book (Toronto and Ottawa).

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So it looks like we have quite a few items to giveaway today. So let’s get to it.

I’ve yet to announce the winner of last weeks passes to the Two Photographers show at the AGO, so we have two sets of tickets to giveaway. So the first set of tickets goes to Fellow Eskimo who will luckily be in the city in January to enjoy the show. The second set goes to Kyle from Often Overlooked. Congrats. Thanks to the AGO for the donation.

The next prize I am giving away today is two copies of the Spacing 2007 Calendar (I’ll still have more to give away prior to year end). The Calendar features images from various Spacing photographers. And the winners are Eva from EasternBlot and Saskboy from Abandoned Stuff. Thanks to Spacing for the donation.

It’s not over yet, the next giveaway is the uTOpia books set. A wonderful article on photoblogging appears in the second book, along with some photos by yours truly and other fine Toronto photobloggers. The winner of the set is Ryan at Photendo. Thanks to Coach House for the donation.

Our last prize for the day is a copy of the Desperate Housewives Video Game for PC. And the winner is Susan the Ice Queen. Hmm this prize almost seems a little too appropriate. Thanks to Buena Vista Games for the donation. We still have two more of these to giveaway.

Congrats to all the winners. Consider this an early Christmas present.

PS: it doesn’t look like we are gonna hit the One Million mark before the end of the year, but that okay. It just means we will need to give away MORE STUFF. Check back next week as I announce some new prize packs. It’s still not too late to enter your ballots for the other prizes.

Back in the summer, I got a sneak peak preview of the movie trailer for Eragon at Book Expo Canada and it looked stunning. Today, the movie is hitting theatres and to celebrate I’ll be giving away a paperback copy of Book One of the Inheritance Trilogy, Eragon. The book is courtesy of Random House Canada.

To qualify, leave a comment (one ballot) or write a blog post about this (two ballots). I’ll be drawing the winner of this prize on Friday January 5th, 2007. Check out the movie trailer after the jump.

NOTE: This giveaway is closed.

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The fine folks at Spacing Magazine have put out 2007 Calendars featuring photographs from some of their contributors. Featured photographers are Sam Javanrouh, Matt O’Sullivan, Miles Storey, Adam Krawesky, Bouke Salverda and yours truly.

The are a reasonable $10 each and can be purchased through the Spacing Store or at Pages Books & Magazines (256 Queen Street West, Toronto) and Ballenford Books (600 Markham St., behind Honest Ed’s) for $7.99.

Also check out the Spacing Holiday Gift Pack on sale exclusively at Pages. It includes the 2007 calendar and three issues of Spacing from 2006 (all of which feature my photo contributions) wrapped in a TTC route map. These are $20.

We’ll be giving out a number of these (will confirm numbers shortly)in the “Million Giveaway” so make sure you leave a comment for blog about to get your ballots.

Also up for grabs in the giveaway will be a Set of Spacing’s Downtown Subway Buttons.

Lately is doesn’t take much to overwhelm me. I’m a tad behind, but I just wanted to announce the two winners from Friday’s Million Extravaganza draw.

Stephen over at Urbania wins a set of tickets to see The Two Photographers – Two Visions : Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt exhibit at the AGO. Happy holidays man. And Ted over at Dead Robot is our first Desperate Housewife Winner (You can let your inner Bree loose on the neighbourhood).

Congrats boys. I’ll drop you a line to let you know how to claim your prizes. I’ll be posting new prizes over the next couple of days. Including an SX-70 camera, Eragon the Book and a few other cool items.

I’m happy to announce the first set of winners in the Million Giveaway Extravaganza.

The first prize goes to Rachel Bowman who was the first person to comment on the Million Giveaway post. The second prize goes to Stephanie Fysh who left a comment on the Two photographers post. Both have won a pair of tickets to the The Two Photographers – Two Visions : Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt exhibit at the AGO.

There are many prizes to giveaway, so tune in often and see if you can win.

PS: strangely enough, there aren’t many entries for the Gears of War prize. What’s up with that?

Tomorrow, November 26th, Couch House books will be launching their second volume of the uTOpia series. State of the Arts:Living with Culture in Toronto. The book features a piece on photoblogging along with a number of photos in a colour insert.

To celebrate come down to the Gladstone tomorrow for the launch. It’s a whole afternoon event with a panel at 3pm and music at 7pm.

For a sneak peek, check out Toronto Life’s website where they have an online exclusive of the photoblogging piece, Our Hidden Cameras

Best of all, we have a copy of the uTOpia set to giveaway as part of the “Million Giveaway Extravaganza”

NOTE: This giveaway is closed.

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above photo by Tyson Williams

The Two Photographers – Two Visions : Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt exhibit opened this past Saturday November 18th at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

We had a sneak peek last Tuesday at a blogger preview night, where I spoke on a panel about photography.

If you are hoping to see some of the iconic mainstream images from either of these two masters in photography, your best bet is to pick up one of those gorgeous 2007 calendars that they sell at this time of year. What the AGO has here is something special and different. It is an earlier look at these two great photographer. Shots that may seem mundane now, but waere groundbreaking at the time they were taken. These two men pioneered how we take and view photography today, as they present life with a different eye.

What struck me the most about the exhibit was it’s uncanny resemblance to images that I would see on modern day photoblogs and flickr streams. The difference being that in those time, photographers were so few and the process much longer and there is so much detail in the images. Now it’s almost instant and plentiful, but not always as good.

The exhibition will be running at the Art Gallery of Ontario until February of next year. Tickets for this exhibit are $15.00 for adults and $12.00 for Students and Seniors. Of course we have 5 pairs of complimentary tickets that we will be giving away right here. So leave a comment (1 ballot) or write a post (2 ballots) about this and make yourself eligible. I will be announcing one winner every Friday until the tickets are all gone.

NOTE: This giveaway is closed.

Did you ever wish you lived on Wisteria Lane? All the gossip, all the drama, all the dirty little secrets? You know you wish it was you. Now it can be. Join the ladies of the popular television show Desperate Housewives in the privacy of your own home. Be a part of the action as the new resident in the neighbourhood. You can be as naughty or as nice as you like. Personally, we hope you are naughty, it’s more fun that way.

We have 4 copies of the recently released Buena Vista PC game, Desperate Housewives.

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Gears of War Media Preview

A couple of weeks ago we had a chance to have a sneak peek at the new Gears of War video game for the xbox 360. The game itself looks fantastic and is full of blood and gore.

We’re also please to announce that we will be giving away a copy of the game here on photojunkie.ca as a part of the One Million Giveaway Extravaganza. Contest details below the fold.

Show Notes from Episode #012:

NOTE: This giveaway is closed.

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I’m happy to officially announce the One Million Giveaway Extravaganza in celebration of our upcoming millionth visitor to photojunkie.ca. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be giving away several items via the site, including books, video games, pictures and many more exciting items.

Becoming eligible is simple. You will get one ballot for leaving a comment on any post in the “million” category, such as this one. And you will recieve two ballots for linking to any post in the “million” category or linking to the million category url.

I’ll start posting prizes and details starting this week.

I’ll even throw in an extra ballot for anyone who blogs about this before the end of November.

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