Our recommendations for the perfect gift for photographers + photography lovers across Canada!
+ Under $100.
Books
we LOVE...
Finding American by Colin Boyd Shafer
Stories of Immigration from All 50 States
A captivating photographic portrait of the diverse experiences of immigrants in the United States, depicting the resilience and realities of building a home in a new place.
Colin Boyd Shafer is an award-winning Canadian documentary photographer, social sciences educator, and the son of immigrants, with family roots in the United States. His past projects include INTERLOVE, which tells interfaith love stories in Ontario; Cosmopolis Toronto, featuring someone from every country of the world who now calls Toronto home (as seen in photoED magazine!)
Barbara Davidson, Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist and Guggenheim Fellow, says:
"“Through Colin’s lens and the participants’ stories we see the realities of immigrant life in America: sometimes beautiful, sometimes harrowing, always human.”
Hardcover // 11 × 9.5 inches // 304 pages
$55 CDN
Order your copy from our friends at Figure 1 publishing
Anthotype Emulsions
by Malin Fabbri
This book presents the collective research from 140 artists from 31 countries using plant-based homemade emulsions from Avocado and Beetroot, to Turmeric and Yerba mate.
Produced for World Anthotype Day 2023, this book shares artists’ research, process' and notes to learn, and draw inspiration from.
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced anthotypist, this book is a great resource that will save you time, and present you with new inspirations in finding the next plant or pigment to use for printing.
Available for purchase via:
$14. - $44. CDN. (+ shipping + taxes)
This book is available as a digital PDF for download, a soft cover book, or a hardcover book.
Know a photo-newbie?
Get the GUIDE - an easy intro to the basics of photography
The photoEd GUIDE to Photography is a 128-page magazine-format learning resource.
The GUIDE provides a quick-start to basic photography tools & techniques, from analog film photography to understanding digital image capture + ideas for new explorations.
More
MAGAZINES!
Affordable and current, these gorgeous publications will remind the receiver that
you are awesome whenever they open their snail mail and find a fresh copy.
Here are a few of our independently published faves...
BlackFlash
Saskatoon situated, BlackFlash Magazine presents critical opinions, and innovative ideas about divergent artistic practices from across Canada, and beyond. Each issue includes profiles, interviews, reviews, feature articles, and artist projects from a diverse selection of artists, writers, and curators.
BlackFlash produces three printed editions/ year. ($22.)
Subscribe HERE.
Musicworks magazine
Musicworks connects readers with curious ears to the world’s most adventurous music and sound art in a triannual magazine and companion recording — packed with mind-expanding stories, photos, and tracks you won’t find anywhere else.
Delivered with music!
Each edition comes with a CD of tracks of new or previously unreleased music.
Musicworks produces three printed editions (+CDs)/ year. ($44.)
Check out Musicworks, HERE.
Join a Magazine club!
The Toronto-based Issues Magazine Shop carries hard-to-find, independently-published magazines from around the world. Visit the shop or order online!
Subscription boxes ship in September, December, March and June.
Curated just for you! (or the person you're gifting for)
$100.00
Check it out HERE.
Add COFFEE to your magazine moment!
Pairing REALLY nice coffee with your analog read will spark a little extra warmth into your magazine moment.
We love Sparkplug coffee because it's delicious, roasted fresh locally, and run by a cool female-led team.
Choose your coffee style, select a grind specific to your maker, subscribe for AUTOPILOT delivery... SO many options. The Sparkplug crew delivers the goods to ensure you're drinking the BEST coffee you've ever made.
In fact, they guarantee coffee happiness.
+ FREE SHIPPING
+ Friends of photoED - Save $3 on your next order with code: CAMERA
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They have a ton of cool coffee gift ideas for any kinda coffee lover - Check them out - HERE.
Cool stufF
A statement piece!
ART = WORK
Get this tell-it-like-it-is T-shirt for only $20 — HERE.
The ART=WORK campaign is run by VANL-CARFAC, Visual Artists of Newfoundland and Labrador + Canadian Artists Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens, in partnership with the Mary MacDonald Foundation. This joint fundraiser supports visual artists, curators, and art workers living in Newfoundland and Labrador through programs and awards distributed by their respective organizations.
Handmade mugs also now available! Check them out HERE.
Get 2024 on the right track.
A calendar featuring Canadian photography is always a great gift. Here's one we REALLY love.
Megaphone is a Vancouver-based organization that amplifies marginalized voices through writing, photography and public dialogue.
Megaphone's 13-month Hope in Shadows Calendar features photographs from a local photo contest open to the low-income vendors who sell the calendar to earn income.
Get inspired and support people to find hope in shadows - all year!
$20.
Calendars can be purchased online OR if you're in Vancouver, find a local VENDOR!
Gelaskins
Gelaskins offers artist-designed skins for laptops, phones, tablets, wireless headphones, e-readers, and MUCH more... You can also upload your own photo, logo, or artwork and create a bespoke skin. And they're made in Toronto!
Check out their full product line HERE.
Hello GORGEOUS!
SO many reasons to LOVE this!
Aside from GORGEOUS SPICE Co. being an awesome Canadian product created by a rockstar female entrepreneur, these spice blends are guaranteed to spice up your life.
These small batch premium spice blends - pack a punch. All killer, NO fillers. A great gift for foodies that goes easy on the postage $...
$6. + up.
Can't decide? JOIN THE SPICE CLUB for monthly deliveries of inspiration. Members get specially created recipes, The Gorgeous ‘Zine, playlists, recos to cool gear, and more … everything you need to make food fascinating!
Our PATREON PATRONS may recall, our Spring/Summer 2023 edition was shipped with a little sample pack of GORGEOUS SPICES... Flav-O-matic. It's the 'everything bagel' of spice blends! YUM! Such a lovely treat for our PATREON crew!
For the artists out there...
We LOVE artist/photographer Danny Custodio's T's. If you know someone that can laugh in the face of rejection, or the realities of being a starving artist - this is the perfect gift!
Available in black with white text, or white with black text, in a range of sizes to suite any size of artist!
Check out these T's - HERE.
Wearable art that's also got heart
One of our favourite Toronto based artists has turned his images into wearable art - for a great cause!
Thomas Brasch's dazzling gem like images memorialize dark world events.
These multi-layered kaleidoscopic abstractions are images created from the architectural details from sites around the world where hate motivated violence and destruction have killed innocent people.
Read more about Thomas' art - HERE.
Printed on 36x36" luxurious 100% Charmeuse silk, 15% of the proceeds from sales (until December 6) will be donated to the arQuives, Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives.
Find out more and check out the range of styles and colours on Thomas' scarfs - HERE.
#SHOPLOCALCANADA
Our local Canadian retailers + small business' need us.
Amazon + Walmart don't care about you. Shop smarter. It's easy!
Not sure what your photography lover would like?
Let them chose + SUPPORT A LOCAL BUSINESS with GIFT CERTIFICATES.
If you're in Vancouver - check out the awesomeness of BEAU photo.
"Bottom line – we are here to assist you. It doesn’t matter if you are running your own photography business, are a photographic artist, a student getting into photography or someone who found an old film camera and wants to start using it. We are here to help you decide what is best for your needs. No hard sales tactics here."
If you're in Toronto, we love a visit to Downtown Camera.
At Downtown Camera, gift certificates can be used on anything in the store, from film developing (drop-in OR mail-in) and analog accessories, to the latest digital gear & gadgets. Your giftee will fee like a kid in a candy store!
Other indy Shops we LOVE
Shopping online can be ok - but these are our fave shops to browsing in an analog world...
These retail queens will surely help you find unique + thoughtful gifts whoever you're shopping for!
Pair a copy of photoED magazine with some other IRL treats to make the perfect gift package for anyone on your list who could use a relaxing magazine moment!
In Toronto, we LOVE...
Bright Hopes Market (Ave + Dav)
Good Egg (Kensington Market)
Labour Of Love (Cabbagetown)
The ultimate Canadian photography lovers gift!?
Of course we recommend our own selves as the BEST GIFT ever!
New ways to think about Canadian photography GUARANTEED.
Subscribers get 3 beautifully printed issues DELIVERED per year.
(Spring/Summer + Fall + Winter) Our 2024 season will focus on themes of, LIGHT, TIME and COLOUR.
We also have a neat catalog of BACK ISSUES - if there's a theme your gift-ee is into but missed out on previously - check it out.
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Feel the bonus karma points flow your way when you SHARE all these goodies through your social media channels!
Behind all of these suggestions are REAL CANADIAN HUMANS working super hard to bring you their best - a 'Like' or a 'follow' on social media is a sweet little boost of the ego in hard times.