This photo show gives new meaning to the term "live tweet". For the next few weeks, a screen at the Canberra Museum and Gallery is filled with an ever-changing array of dramatic photographs taken by the "Kayak Cameraman" Paul Jurak. The photos appear on the screen as Jurak tweets them – a live feed of the brightly coloured Canberra sunrises that have made him known to a wide audience in the territory.
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Jurak works at CIT as a trades lecturer by day but his photos of the many moods of Lake Burley Griffin have gained him a following on social media. He says the live feed came about after a conversation with blogger Elias Hallaj, who asked if he had ever thought of putting his work on at the Canberra museum. "I said, 'Mate, in my dreams. It would be sensational to have an exhibition there but... you've got to be really well known.'" But museum director Shane Breynard suggested there was, in fact, a possible spot for Jurak's work on a screen on the wall in the gallery foyer.
The live feed of Twitter photos will run until the end of June. "It just becomes a living slideshow, watching the world through my eyes for the next few weeks," Jurak says. "I try to tell a story [with the pictures]... this morning I had a pink one, and then the sun coming through then the blue picture and I've got a shot of a marker buoy looking like hell raiser with ice spikes on it."
And when he had an hour to spare, he popped into the museum to look at his photos on the wall. "It puts a smile on your dial... if that's not a feel-good moment then nothing is," he says with a laugh.
In its introduction to Jurak's work, the museum speaks of the social nature of his photography. "Jurak posts his unique and compelling photographs of Canberra's changing environment to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This provides social media users with a window into the ever changing beauty of our local environment that, together with Jurak's irrepressible Canberra pride, has attracted a significant following," it says.
More chances to get spooked
The first event sold out almost instantly, and now there are more chances to get spooked at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Led by Tim the Yowie Man, the evening tour will take you through the art deco building, often named as one of the most haunted buildings in the country.
The building housed the Institute of Anatomy from 1931-1984 and also served as a morgue. Since then it has been a hot spot of reported ghostly and poltergeist activity.
Over the next few months, tours are on June 26, July 24, and August 28 at 7.30pm. Tickets are $70 and tours are a maximum of 20 participants. Tickets also include a fortifying glass of wine to calm the nerves. Book online at nfsa.gov.au.
Drink and dine for good
Two venues around town have teamed up with not-for-profit organisation Beyond Blue to help raise awareness and funds for mental health.
From June 15-21, dessert restaurant San Churro Woden will donate $1 from every churros dish purchased.
Otherwise, if you get in there this weekend, Little Brooklyn is also donating $1 from every Negroni sold to Beyond Blue until June 7.
What's On
The new shipping container village at Westside Acton park is set to be buzzing with events this weekend. From 9.30am-3pm on Saturday, you can shop for accessories, clothing, jewellery, candles, soaps, pet clothes and more at their pop-up markets. There will also be live performances by Ned Philpot and Darcy Welsh. On Sunday, the BMX competition ACT Jam is on from 4pm, with the announcement of winners and a video premier. Free entry to both.
This weekend is your last chance to vote for your favourite portrait in the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015 People's Choice competition. All voters go in the draw to win two nights at the Crowne Plaza in Canberra, a VIP tour of the Portrait Gallery, and a Curatoreum voucher or copy of The Companion.
If it's going to be this chilly, you may as well go ice skating. Skate In The City is back for its fifth year in Garema Place from June 26 to July 26. Tickets are on sale now at inthecitycanberra.com.au/events/skate-in-the-city.
