PHOTOGRAPHED FOR EXCLAIM!.CA

The 38th annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival took place in the heart of Alberta this past weekend. Residing in the infamous Gallagher Park, close to 20,000 people gathered each day from Thursday to Sunday to watch some of the finest acts in folk music today, all while taking in the beautiful downtown skyline of Edmonton.

This was my first year shooting the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, and needless to say, it surely won't be my last. I had a wonderful time shooting the bands on the main stage, and discovering new music throughout the weekend, and that's just something that cannot be beat, if you ask me. The weather was gorgeous for the most part, despite the rain on the final day of the fest, and an evacuation on the first day due to severe winds in the area, which in turn, resulted in a last minute performance by fest scheduled artist, Shakey Graves, down at The Needle Vinyl Tavern a few hours after the evacuation of the festival grounds. A blog about that adventure along with a full gallery of photos will be coming soon, I promise!

On the bright side, all of the main stage acts that I covered completely blew me away with raw and pure talent. I felt mesmerized at times while photographing some of the artists, and completely captivated by what they were doing on stage. Luckily, through my amazement I was able to capture some interesting shots of the bands. Below is a gallery of some of my favourite snaps shot over the course of the weekend, and full galleries can be viewed over at Exclaim!.