Musical moments - at the 2016 Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Story
The power of a musical album that succeeds at evoking something deep within is a beautiful thing, yet a raw live performance has a living power to it that can’t be recorded. A show is not a one way thing, but rather a lively conversation between an artist and a crowd that has potential to go in beautifully unpredictable directions. Even on stage, fellow musicians listen, speak, and encourage each other with subtle glances, smiles, and intimacy that can only come through years of shared experience. The best live photography captures these subtleties in a visual way, and captures the heart of what the crowd falls in love with at the live shows they will remember the rest of their lives.
This weekend will mark my fifth year working as a photographer for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and looking back at my growing photographic collection it’s interesting to see how it has shifted over the years. I will never claim to have output the best of anything - because there’s always more to learn, and if a year from now I look back at my body of work without feeling that I’ve grown, that is the moment I will be disappointed in myself - but I point myself to continuing to develop an eye for greater subtleties and aim to make better photographs with this clarity of vision.
Last year I only posted a few postcards from the event here on my personal website, though many of you will have seen a lot of my work being used for the festival’s social and print media efforts. The usual photos I release are centred around the greater festival experience, but today I would like to share a few of my personal favourite images of musical moments.
Enjoy, and if you see me out in the festival fields over the coming four days please don’t hesitate to come and say hello!
Photos
Elder Mae Louise Campbell and her daughter kick off Winnipeg Folk Festival 2016 with a traditional song and blessing.
The rhythm section of the “Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk-Super Band”: the Lemon Bucket Orkestra.
A moment of connection amidst a fast paced set.
Playing, together. (pictured: Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner of Red Moon Road)
Skylar Bouchard takes centre stage in the Young Performers Program.
Mentorship.
Eric Landry looks inward as he performs a powerful and intimate song, with just him and his guitar.
Projection from the back of the stage.
Musicians that shine in workshops are watchful and adaptive to not just their bandmates, but also the other musicians they find themselves sharing the stage with. (pictured: Kelsey Wilson of Wild Child)
One song, four percussionists - another fun mashup you will only find in the festival’s unique workshop format. Here, they gather around and follow Michael Hanf of San Fermin.
Vocalists harmonizing and passing the melody around.
The line that separates the crowd from the performers is thin.
The other side of that thin line.
The crowd goes silent to listen to Mikaela Davis’ ethereal harp song.
The East Pointers jam like cousins who’ve done this before. Perhaps because they are, and they have.
Local Manitoba loveleys Dan Frechette and Laurel Thomsen perform with an intimacy that is an extension of their very being.
Celebrating a performance well done, because why not!? The Crooked Brothers are proud of their apprentices.
At the end of four full days, the sun sets on a field removed of stages. All good things must come to an end, but it’s always comforting to know that the folk fest sun will rise once again with its community the following year.