Saskatchewan photographer captures faces of summer music festivals
A photographer, originally from Regina, has spent her summer capturing the faces of festival-goers across the country and the United States thanks to a little help from her friends.
Last year, Kim Jay, who now calls Victoria, B.C. home, started a crowd-funding campaign for her project We Are Revellers.
"It has been a crazy summer, " Jay said. "In the course of three months, we've gone to seven different festivals, so it's a lot of packing the van, and unpacking and a lot of editing. But we have met some really cool people along the way."
Jay and her partner, Craig Shutko, raised $8,000 and brought the project to life.
"It's given us a really cool opportunity, the crowd-funding that we did, and a lot of people from Regina supported us," said Jay.
We Are Revellers documents the faces and personalities of people at summer music festivals, including Sasquatch Music Festival in B.C. and the Regina Folk Festival.
The idea came from an experience Jay had with a friend who took portraits of strangers in downtown Victoria. She liked the concept but found that too often people wouldn't stop to have their photo taken because they were too busy or had somewhere to be.
Jay figured the idea would work better when people were relaxed and in their element, so she thought, "where better to capture personalities than at a music festival?"
More than 600 portraits taken
To date, Jay has snapped more than 600 portraits for the project, and said she can count on one hand the number of times people refused to have their photo taken.
"You can just tell by looking at the pictures, they are having a good time and letting themselves shine through," said Jay.
The tour has been exhausting, but she said she is also grateful for the people she has met.
"We've met a couple people who go full on with the costumes and then it's nice to meet the kids and stuff like we did at the folk fest this time," Jay said. "That was a nice dynamic because we hadn't taken any pictures of kids before."
Jay posted a number of photos from the Regina Folk Festival to her website Monday, and she said she has had excellent feedback.
She and Shutko leave for their second last stop on the music festival circuit Friday. They are headed to the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert and then they will wrap the project up at the Rifflandia Festival at home in Victoria in mid-September.
They are also working on a book that will showcase the faces of the festivals they have attended. It's the final step in the project.
Jay is currently working on the layout with a designer and expects it will be available in October or November.
