''Source'' is a quarterly

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

magazine published in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. It is distributed throughout Ireland, Great Britain and internationally.

History

''Source'' was first published in 1992 as a newsletter of the organisation Photo Works North. This organisation had been set up the previous year to promote photography in Northern Ireland. The first editor was the photographer

Paul Seawright Paul Seawright (born 1965) is a Northern Irish artist. He is the professor of photography and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (previously Executive Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Belfast School of Art) at Ulster University in Belf ...

. From 1995 ''Source'' expanded its remit to include review coverage of exhibitions across Ireland and the UK. Since 2002 it has also included extensive reviews of photographic publishing. In 2007 ''Source'' published its 50th issue and was relaunched in a new format with additional columns and more review coverage.

Coverage

''Source'' is primarily concerned with social, historical or aesthetic uses of photography rather than technical or

amateur photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

. The magazine deals largely with art photography, in exhibition or

book reviews __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

, essays or in the portfolios of photographs it publishes. These portfolios are selected from submissions, including those from photographers who have attended the regular portfolio daysExample of an invitation for a Source portfolio day
the magazine has run at venues around Ireland and the UK since 1997. However, as well as

art photography Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stan ...

the magazine is also concerned with other non-artistic uses of the medium and has in the past published essays on subjects such as police photography, pornography, satellite photographs,

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

illustration,

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

, photography and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, and the history of photography. This approach is typified by two columns that have run since the magazine's relaunch in 2007, discussing photography in relation to 'advertising' and 'law'.

Source website

''Source'' has had a website since 1997. Since 2002 this has included a growing archive of all the back issue content of the magazine. Additionally it contains two projects that are specific to the website: oral history interviews and graduate photography online.News story about graduate photography online
The Source oral history archive consists of lengthy interviews with photographers, curators and writers about their lives and involvement in photography. These are gradually being made available as indexed audio files sometimes up to three hours in length. Graduate photography online, running since 2007 is a large gallery of the work of graduating photography students in Ireland and the UK with each student represented by a selection of their work indexed by the universities they have attended. Notable contributors have included: Photographers Willie Doherty, John Hilliard,

, Phil Collins,

Hannah Collins Hannah Collins (born 1956) is a British contemporary artist and film-maker. Collins' works treat the collective experiences of memory, history and the everyday in the modern world. She is known for her photographic installations, but has also made ...

, Victor Sloan,

Hannah Starkey Hannah Starkey (born 1971) is a British photographer who specializes in staged settings of women in city environments, based in London. In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. ''Hannah Starkey: In Real L ...

Denis Masi Writers Geoffrey Batchen,

Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is a polemicist, literary editor, journalist and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. O'Toole was drama critic for the '' New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and ...

, John Taylor,

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...

, David Bate, Ian Walker, Lucy Soutter,

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

Tom Paulin Thomas Neilson Paulin (born 25 January 1949 in Leeds, England) is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he was the G. M. Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford. Earl ...

and Daniel Jewesbury.

References

External links

''Source'' website
{{Authority control 1992 establishments in the United Kingdom Visual arts magazines published in the United Kingdom Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1992 Magazines published in Northern Ireland Mass media in Belfast Photography in Northern Ireland Photography magazines