photoED Magazine: Real vs Imagined

Issue #78

Magazine cover images by Anna Weidle, from the series, A Place I Don’t Know, and Carolyn Cheng, Pools I, from the series Surfacing, Oil Sands, Alberta, 2023.

photoED Launches Issue 78: Real vs Imagined

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” ― Jessamyn West

We live in a time when we’re constantly rushing, with information and images barrelling towards us at a record-breaking pace; yet simultaneously, we are alerted to pause, to consider, and to reconsider sources to critically assess whether the content we’re viewing on our screens is fact or fiction.

Real vs Imagined is the final instalment in photoED magazine’s trilogy exploring contrast themes. This issue follows suit from the previous, Order vs Chaos and Home vs Away, in asking readers to pause; but in our instance, the payoff feels considerably kinder and more fulfilling.

In this print-first edition, photoED magazine again flips the script on the reader’s experience. From the cover, the publication opens as per usual but somehow concludes in the middle. Flip the print edition on its back to find another beginning, a different entry point, through a second cover.

Editorial Features:

• Carolyn Cheng shifts the genre of landscape photography into artistic abstraction.
• Maxim Dondyuk, a Ukrainian photographer, documents remnants of war that appear eerily similar to scenes from Hollywood apocalypse film sets.
• Streetmax slows down street photography to craft images that ask us to question not only what we are seeing, but also why we believe, or doubt them.
• Yvette Hamilton, an Australian contemporary artist using history and AI to conjure a new portrait of a chemist whose work directly contributed to the birth of photography.
• Phantasmic Photos, The Hamilton Family’s Archive of Spiritualist photography.
• Angela Lewis seeks her grandmother through portraits of other women.
• Jason Bomers is a grown-up Lost Boy.
• JW Toftness questions the flood of digital devices and our new understandings of reality.

Portfolio Artists from our International Call for Submissions:
Gaëtan Changeur, Liv Talarico, Apostolis Giannakopoulos, Debbie Conacher, Chris Myhr, Gustavo Jabbaz, Matt Crabtree, Willie Runte, Vicky Martin, Nika Belianina, Anna Weidle, Leanne Trivett S., Martha Davis, Camille Roquet, and Tash Damjanovic

+ much, much more.

photoED magazine is available to order online as single copies or subscriptions, via select retailers across Canada, and internationally via Newsstand Magazines. Patreon Patrons, receive the publication + perks.

Related Programming

Calls for Photography Submissions:

photoED magazine is looking ahead for more lens-based stories crafted with intention. Emerging photographers and established professional artists — all are welcome to share their work with us.

Submissions from our calls are blind-reviewed by Volunteer Curatorial Editorial board members. When examining entries, judges primarily assess how the work presents a unique interpretation on the theme of the edition.

We very highly recommend reading a full print or digital replica of our most recent edition in advance of making a submission. This research step will assist you in determining if your work is a fit for our publication. Submission details, including fees and exemptions are all available on the photoED magazine website.

Themes & Deadlines Ahead:

Objects
Still life, and other things we cherish​​.
Deadline: Friday, February 19, 2027

Faces
Eye contact, and other documents of ourselves.
Deadline: Monday, June 14, 2027

Places
Special places, land, rooms, cities, towns…
Deadline: September 10, 2027

About photoED magazine

photoED magazine presents fresh, original, editorial ideas in accessible language (no art-speak or tech-talk here). We warmly welcome contributors at any level of their experience with lens-based art.

photoED magazine is supported by our readers, subscribers, Patreon Patrons, and select advertisers & community partners all with a shared lens towards celebrating and supporting qualitative editorial content for photography lovers.
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Find digitals replica editions on the Press Reader app and Flipster/ EBSCO for libraries and institutions

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Image credits: Photos of magazines by Margaret Mulligan