by Paul Anka
First published 2026
A federal photographer moves through Canada's landscapes with official assignments and personal questions. The camera becomes both tool and burden as assignments reveal the gap between public image and private truth. Each click of the shutter captures more than intended. The photographer documents ceremonies, protests, and quiet moments that define a nation, while struggling with what it means to represent a country through selected frames. Official duties clash with artistic vision. Personal relationships strain under the weight of constant travel and the pressure to create images that serve political needs rather than honest observation. The photographer must choose between career security and authentic expression, between the safety of assignment work and the risk of showing Canada as it actually exists rather than as it wishes to be seen.
Genres: art, canadian-literature, 21st-century, photography
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: artistic-expression, career-vs-passion, duty-vs-truth
Setting: Canada
Period: 21st-century
240 pages · Hardcover · University of Ottawa Press