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Source Magazine

Founded  1992
Location Belfast
Website source.ie

Source is a quarterly photography magazine, available in print and as a digital edition, published in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They publish emerging photographic work and engage with the latest in contemporary photography through news, thoughtful features and reviews of the latest exhibitions and books from Ireland and the UK. Their website brings together an archive of writing and pictures from the magazine alongside current features.

Source is distributed throughout the UK, Ireland and internationally and is the longest running photographic review in the UK since the closure of Creative Camera magazine in 2001, and is comparable to other international photography titles such as Aperture in the US, Camera Austria, and Katalog in Denmark.

History

Photoworks North was formally constituted in May 1992 in order to promote excellence in photography in Northern Ireland. The organization was set up by a group of photographers united in their frustration at the limited provision for photography within the gallery and education sectors in Northern Ireland and the lack of a network for Northern Ireland photographers.

The organisation’s early focus was on providing a centre in Belfast for the promotion of excellence in photography through gallery space, a library with an archive of member’s work, darkrooms and educational activities for schools. It also had plans for a publication programme and a key part of this was the journal Source that would promote awareness of and act as a forum for those interested in photography.

Initial money was raised through a raffle of donated prints from photographers that included Martin Parr, Willie Doherty and a set of self portrait’s by Lee Friedlander. In 1993 the Arts Council of Northern Ireland agreed to cover production costs for four issues and to date funding has been maintained and steadily increased from ACNI. Within the funding climate and with the available voluntary energies Source increasingly became the focus of the organization. Based on the track record of Source the organization also went on to secure regular funding from the Irish Arts Council since 1998 and Belfast City Council since 2001.

Source gradually grew from its original 8 page A4 black and white format increasing in page numbers, changing format, printing in colour and regularly updating its design. The content of the early issues of the magazine included news, reviews, features and portfolios of individual photographers. These have remained a mainstay but as the magazine has increased to its current 80 page count they have increased in number along with new sections covering book publishing and specialist columns on photography and the law and a regular column analyzing advertising imagery.

Source secured office space in Botanic Avenue in 1994 before moving briefly to the city centre to a warehouse in Hector Street in 2000. In 2002 the magazine relocated to Clanmill arts and business units and remains a resident of the Cathedral Quarter arts community. The office has an impressive library of specialist books and magazines on photography which provides a valuable research resource for the editors and is also made available for consultation to researchers and visiting curators.1

Publications

Photography books by organisation

  • Year, Title, City: Publisher (Listed chronologically)
  • Issue 1
  • Issue 2
  • Issue 3
  • Issue 4
  • Issue 5
  • Issue 6
  • Issue 7
  • Issue 8
  • Issue 9
  • Issue 10
  • Issue 11
  • Issue 12
  • Issue 13
  • Issue 14
  • Issue 15
  • Issue 16
  • Issue 17
  • Issue 18
  • Issue 19
  • Issue 20
  • Issue 21
  • Issue 22
  • Issue 23
  • Issue 24
  • Issue 25
  • Issue 26
  • Issue 27
  • Issue 28
  • Issue 29
  • Issue 30
  • Issue 31
  • Issue 32
  • Issue 33
  • Issue 34
  • Issue 35
  • Issue 36
  • Issue 37
  • Issue 38
  • Issue 39
  • Issue 40
  • Issue 41
  • Issue 42
  • Issue 43
  • Issue 44
  • Issue 45
  • Issue 46
  • Issue 47
  • Issue 48
  • Issue 49
  • Issue 50
  • Issue 51
  • Issue 52
  • Issue 53
  • Issue 54
  • Issue 55
  • Issue 56
  • Issue 57
  • Issue 58
  • Issue 59
  • Issue 60
  • Issue 61
  • Issue 62
  • Issue 63
  • Issue 64
  • Issue 65
  • Issue 66
  • Issue 67
  • Issue 68
  • Issue 69
  • Issue 70
  • Issue 71
  • Issue 72
  • Issue 73
  • Issue 74
  • Issue 75
  • Issue 76
  • Issue 77
  • Issue 78
  • Issue 79
  • Issue 80
  • Issue 81
  • Issue 82
  • Issue 83
  • Issue 84
  • Issue 85
  • Issue 86
  • Issue 87
  • Issue 88
  • Issue 89
  • Issue 90
  • Issue 91
  • Issue 92
  • Issue 93
  • Issue 94
  • Issue 95
  • Issue 96
  • Issue 97
  • Issue 98
  • Issue 99
  • Issue 100
  • Issue 101
  • Issue 102
  • Issue 103
  • Issue 104
  • Issue 105
  • Issue 106

External links & References

  1. https://www.source.ie/main/about.php