CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD/PHOTOGRAPHIE CANADIENNE CONTEMPORAINE DE LA COLLECTION DE L'OFFICE NATIONAL DU FILM. Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers, c1984. 176pp, cloth, $29.95, ISBN 0-88830-264-9. Grades 10 and up Reviewed by J.E. Simpson Volume 13 Number 3 1985 May Although for many people photography remains primarily a means of imparting information, recognition of its artistic potential has been increasing for some years now. Most major galleries include photographs in their exhibition schedules. In Canada, the principal agent in this shift in sensibility has been the National Film Board. Established in 1939 by British documentary film-maker John Grierson, the NFB has for forty-five years exerted considerable influence upon the way in which we see ourselves and the way in which others see us through the combined talents of its Still Photography Division. Contemporary Canadian Photography is a selection of 140 of the best of a collection of 150,000 pictures in the division's library. It is an impressive selection. The subject matter ranges from modest interiors to great sweeps of landscape, yet, almost without exception, it is human references that prevail. Many of the images have the same textural density of a passage from a good short story or the taut economy of a lyric poem. They are informative images, to be sure, but not in the manner of graphs and charts and news synopses. They owe more to Daumier than to Dow-Jones. Hugh MacLennan, eminent Canadian writer, who worked briefly for the Film Board in its infancy, has supplied an evocative foreword; and Martha Langford, executive producer of the Still Photography Division since 1981, has written a crisply detailed introduction that traces its growth. Contemporary Canadian Photography is an important source of inspiration for those who care for still images, for visual poetry, or for the accumulated variety of half-a-century of Canadian life. J.E. Simpson, Edmonton Public School Board, Edmonton, Alta.