Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Yes, we accept exchanges. Artist Max Dean, takes back a photography album from a woman who found the pictures depressing.  She get another album from Max.  Dean gives away albums to strangers throughout the Contact Festival from the back of his Volkswagen " Foto Bug".  The Foto Bug was parked in front of MOCCA when this photograph was taken. Have Album Will Travel - artist gives away photographic memories in the street Over the past decade, performance artist Max Dean has collected over 600 photo albums. Family Memories. Forgotten Records. Pictures of the past. At the official opening of the Contact Photography Festival in Toronto, Dean told a large audience at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art Gallery, that it was time that he got rid of his collection of albums. Rather than simply throw them away, Dean has made the act of divesting himself of his collection as a performance-based work of art. " About 100 of the albums have been donated to the Art

 .   $50,000 Cash Prize. A Book Deal and An Exhibition Next Year 2012 Scotiabank Photography Award L-R, MC and Arts Editor at the Globe Gabe Gonda, Janes Nokes, Exec. Dir. SPA with SPA winner Arnaud Maggs; and photographer Ed Burtynsky, Chair SPA . Toronto artist Arnaud Maggs received the second annual Scotiabank Photography Award (SPA) at a ceremony held this evening at Toronto's Design Exchange.  Celebrating excellence in contemporary photography, the $50,000 award, solo Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival exhibition in 2013 and book deal with international art photography publisher Steidl, is Canada's largest prize for an established Canadian photographic artist. "To receive this award is an honour, and it too is an honour to be named in the company of my gifted peers, Fred Herzog and Alain Paiement," said Arnaud Maggs. "Scotiabank's work over the past years both through its involvement in the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Fe

Shy Guy Alain Paiement   Pointing a YouTube camera in the faces of Canada’s BEST photographers (Huffington Post Blog by Stephen Weir) If you can get a photographer to talk, oh the stories you will hear... Over the years I have handled publicity assignments for some of Canada’s best known artists, authors, and, now and then, photographers.  Although one shouldn’t make sweeping generalities about the personality traits of red hot artists, when it come to photographers, the best cliché is “Mum’s the Word”. Authors know that the gift of the gab sells books, and for centuries, painters have been expected to attend their exhibitions. Sculptors appear larget than life – just like their carvings. But, photographers are different. Really different. Doesn’t matter what language. Open the dictionary to the word "shy" and it will likely read: photographer. They see the world with a box held to one eye, separating them from their subject.  For Montreal

ONTARIO 2012: Fatalities - Summaries & Recommendations I am assisting the Ontario Underwater Council with the writing of fatality reports following the death of any scuba diver in provincial waters.  I have posted an earlier version of the report - what follows is current as of April 29, 2012.  The report was put together by: Stephen Weir          Sport Safety Consultant Ayisha Hassanali    Sport Safety Consultant Raimund Krob         Sport Safety Advisor One can see a more complete version of this report at the Ontario Underwater Council's website  http://www.underwatercouncil.com/?action=cms&cmspage=safety-scubaincidents&parent_cmspage1=safety   Fatalities - Summaries and Recommendations are listed in chronological order. Date of Incident:     2012-04-13   Summary: Dive Site: On Friday, April 13 th , a 58-year old Caledon woman (Judy Ann Swann) and her husband (Eric Tolton) were planning on doing a dive to check out her bran

  . The Low Down On An Upcoming Scuba Show (May issue of Diver Magazine) By Stephen Weir  A brand new Canadian based underwater TV series is descending to new heights thanks in part to its use of cutting edge video cameras. The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) has begun airing  Descending,  a scuba adventure TV series that uses the new Red One digital video camera to get hyper-real footage from the bottom of Lake Ontario to the wild waters of New Zealand. The Red One, built by the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company (founded by Oakley owner Jim Jannard ) is in the vanguard of the next generation of digital broadcast cameras.  Relatively small, pretty cheap ($25,000, not counting the  70 lb Gates waterproof housing) the Red has the ability to shoot highly detailed video images in very low light, far outstripping the capability of high def TV sets to show such amazing quality.  Underwater the Red One sees and records images more accurately than the human eye. This y

Montreal's Finest  Text  and video links(s) in English and French for an article/video posting for Huffington Post Alain Paiement - photograph by Stephen Weir Alain Paiement, Montreal photographer is one of three finalists nominated for the Scotiabank Photography Award (SPA) 2012, the largest annual peer reviewed celebration of excellence in Canadian contemporary photography. It is designed to raise the international profile of Canada's leading photographic artists. Trois photographes canadiens bien connus ont été choisis comme finalistes du Prix de photographie Banque Scotia (PPBS). (Scotiabank Photography Award) Il constitue la principale célébration annuelle de l'excellence évaluée par les pairs dans le domaine de la photographie contemporaine au Canada See the English Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M-NKm8_U2E&feature=relmfu Alain Paiement and his Montreal studio/home photo-Stephen Weir See the French Video http://www.you

 Humber Bay Dive Incident: 58-year old woman passes in Toronto hospital I recently volunteered to help the Ontario Underwater Council research and write fatality reports - accurate information about accidents that occur in the Province while people are diving. The reports are meant to give reliable/factual data to the dive community and to make recommendations on how to make the sport safer (based on the facts of the incident). I had hoped I would go the whole year without having to work on a report.  Sadly that is not the case. A 58-year old woman died this week following a Friday April 13th incident in Toronto at Lake Ontario's Humber Bay. What follows is the report that has been posted on the Ontario Underwater Council web site.  It is reposted here because I write about diving and have built up a following of visitors looking for scuba information. Location of the park. Not accurate as to the location of the incident Date of Incident: 2012-04-13 Summary: A woman wa