Social Media Spotlight: Top 26 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow

I’m a big of fan Instagram! The popular photo-sharing social network has 200 million monthly active users, with more than 40 million photos shared each day. Most Instagrammers use the platform to share photos of their everyday life – ranging from what they’re eating (that’s one of my favourite things to post) to selfies to their pets and more. Most of these photos aren’t too exciting to look at (filters help with the eye appeal), but there are many users who clearly have an artistic, photographic eye, who take and share photos very deliberately, and whose Instagram feeds are just a delight to follow.

My friend Devin Komarniski recently asked me to consider writing a blog post on some local Instagram users who would be worth following. “Unlike Twitter, it’s hard to connect with the local community. Who are the movers and shakers? Who to watch?” he said.

Mack’s got some great local IG stats in his blog post about Instagram usage in Edmonton. Also check out his snapshot of local media organizations on Instagram. Meanwhile, I’ve put together this list of some Instagram users in Edmonton who I think are worth following (in no particular order).

Let me know what you think and if you’ve got some of your own favourite accounts to follow, share them with me in the comments below!

Note: This is part of an ongoing (twice a year) series I publish. See the master list of all recommended users to follow here.

Top 26 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow

Carmyn Joy Effa – @carmynjoy

Edmonton Instagram - Carmyn Joy

I’ve previously written a Social Media Spotlight about local photographer Carmyn Joy‘s Instagram account. Perhaps the most followed individual on Instagram in Edmonton, Carmyn has more than 86,000 followers – many of which gained when Instagram featured her as a ‘suggested user.’ Her photos are simple, but stunning, with a light, faded, sort of blue-tone to them. She’s very deliberate about composition and tries to take advantage of natural light.

Chris Tse – @christse_

Edmonton Instagram Chris Tse

I don’t know when Chris Tse got more than 19,000 Instagram followers but I’m not surprised. His feed is a mix of motivational quotes – set to eye-catching images of (usually him) working out, lots of river valley running scenery, healthy eating and of course his adorable dog Ky. It’s a great feed to follow and may just inspire you to go for that run you’ve been putting off.

Cindy Nguyen – @letsomnom

Edmonton Instagram - letsomnom

With so many Edmonton foodies to choose from, it’s really hard to suggest just one or two but I’ll try. First – Cindy is a local food blogger whose Instagram feed is full of perfectly composed, light, bright, and delicious food porn. She’s opted to showcase horizontal or vertical photos flanked by white bars – instead of Instagram’s typical square format. She’s taken food photography courses to up her food photo game and it’s working. Also unlike some other great foodie IGers, Cindy’s feed is exclusively food, whereas others (my own included) also include events, selfies, cats, etc. She’s easily got one of my favourite local foodie Instagram feeds but there are so many great Edmonton foodie feeds – just search #yegfood and #gastropost (and see the two underrated foodie accounts below!)

Lesley Leung – @instaneko

Edmonton Instagram - Lesley Leung

I’m a huge fan of Lesley’s Instagram feed not just for all of the fantastic food porn but for all of the great home cooking ideas! Her feed will make you hungry but also make you want to be a bit more adventurous cooking your next meal. The photos are always framed so nicely and you’ll also find guest appearances from her adorable cats Goma and Tora.

Dajana Fabjanovich – @allkindsoflovelyblog

Edmonton Instagram - allkindsoflovelyblog

I think Dajana is extremely underrated as a style and food blogger in Edmonton. Her food photos are always taken at the most interesting angles, she’s another one who takes advantage of the slightly faded, light colouring on her images. You can always find great corresponding recipes to her fabulous Instagram food photos as well (check her blog!) She’s also got an amazing fashion sense! Her outfits will inspire you.

Travel Alberta – @travelalberta

Edmonton Instagram - Travel Alberta

The Travel Alberta Instagram account is a fantastic example of an account showcasing other people’s photos. Their bio says to use #explorealberta to give them permission to share your photo on their feed. They give you credit in the caption, and your image is exposed to more than 42,000 people. The photos typically show beautiful landscapes and scenery across the province. There are lots of mountains and reflective lakes, and lots of people in the distance, set against a stunning backdrop. The images are incredible and have even been featured in Travel Alberta commercials and YouTube videos. It’s a great account to follow for Alberta landscape eye candy and one that will hopefully encourage you to go out and #ExploreAlberta.

Edmonton Tourism – @exploreedmonton

Edmonton Instagram - Explore Edmonton

I can’t talk about Travel Alberta without talking about Explore Edmonton (Edmonton Tourism). The account is not nearly as followed as its provincial counterpart but much like Travel Alberta, this account says to use #exploreedmonton to give permission for them to share your photos on their feed and the photos, like its provincial counterpart, are absolutely stunning. Festivals, city skylines, beautiful reflections and soft filters. This account constantly reminds me of Edmonton’s beauty and all it has to offer!

Shayne Woodsmith – @facesofedmonton

Edmonton Instagram - Faces of Edmonton Shayne Woodsmith

Shayne Woodsmith’s Faces of Edmonton is a fairly new Instagram account but a great one to follow for photos and stories of Edmontonians. Inspired by Humans of New York, the photos are captions are cross-posted on Shayne’s tumblog Faces of Edmonton. Scrolling past the photos in your Instagram feed is easier to digest than going to the blog. I love reading Shayne’s perspective/storytelling in the captions of the photos.

Vickie Laliotis – @advinfashion

Edmonton Instagram - Advin Fashion Vickie Laliotis

While Dajana’s Instagram feed occasionally features outfit posts, Vickie Laliotis of Adventures in Fashion almost exclusively features it. Arguably Edmonton’s most popular fashion blogger, Vickie takes what makes her blog so successful – beautiful, bright, well-composed images showcasing gorgeous outfits, unexpected pairings, jewellery and DIY fashion – and replicates it on her successful, eye-catching Instagram feed. There’s artsy shots of food in the mix too.

Casey Choma – @3fc

Edmonton Instagram - 3fc

On his site, Casey says he is “passionately looking for the perfect image.” I think he’s found a bunch of them, and is sharing these perfect images on his Instagram account. Fallen leaves, perfect city skylines and mesmerizing tunnels. Casey comes recommended by the @InstagramYEG account. Great recommendation!

The Organic Box – @organicbox

Edmonton Instagram - Organic Box

The Organic Box’s Instagram account is a truly great example of a local business showcasing their product in a smart and beautiful way, without shoving their service down your throat. Bright colours often on white backdrops – or rainbows of produce. Makes me hungry for some healthy food.

Corey Meyer – @coreythebutcher

Edmonton Instagram - Corey the Butcher

Where Organic Box wins with clean, bright images of fruit and vegetables, Corey the Butcher’s account wins for its raw, sometimes hard to look at, grittier style photos of pigs’ heads, ears, noses, other cuts of meat, and lots of knives. It’s all quite artistically presented and will make you hungry (if you’re a meat eater. This is not for you if you’re a vegetarian). They say you should know the food you’re eating – following Corey’s account gives you some of that but mostly it’s just really interesting because you wouldn’t normally see these images otherwise.

Kevin Hayes – @hayescommakevin

Edmonton Instagram - Kevin Hayes

Following Kevin Hayes’ feed makes you smile. The ultra hipster designer/artist/illustrator and instructor at Pixel Blue College uses Instagram to share photos of his hipster hair but also lots of great, fun, whimsical doodles. It’s great.

Glen Ronald – @glenronald

Edmonton Instagram - Glen Ronald

Speaking of great artists, local artist Glen Ronald is someone I only just found out about and now trumps Carmyn for local person with the most Instagram followers at more than 239,000! Wow. You can see why – his work is incredible and he sells a lot of it through his Etsy store.

University of Alberta Students – @ualbertastudents

Edmonton Instagram - University of Alberta Students

The University of Alberta Students Instagram feed is produced by their Office of the Registrar and features photos taken by students who take over the account. I think this is such a cool concept and in their case, one that works extremely well. The photos of campus are stunning and made better knowing that regular ol’ U of A students (who obviously have a knack at photography) are the ones taking the images. It’s really neat.

Levy the Siberian Cat – @levy_the_siberian_cat

Edmonton Instagram - Levy the Siberian Cat

I once entertained the idea of creating Instagram accounts for my pets Olive, Thor, and Loki, but quickly shot that down thinking about how much work it would be to maintain and also because Instagram still does not give you the ability to toggle between accounts without signing out first (seriously, how is that not a feature yet??) Instead, I like to follow Levy the Siberian Cat, a gorgeous, local cat Instagram account run by Levy’s human slave Jackie Bradt. Levy is gorgeous and extremely photogenic. You’ll also get photos of his pal Weezer.

Lemons – @lemonsthecorgi

Edmonton Instagram - Lemons the Corgi

To be fair, if I’m going to suggest a local cat Instagram to follow, I should also suggest a local dog Instagram to follow. Thanks to Lemons’ owner @miktacular for bringing this account to my attention. Lemons is a dog about town and is seen frequently City Market and other Edmonton events. He is extremely precious.

Christine Dennis – @thediymommy

Edmonton Instagram - The DIY Mommy

The Do It Yourself Mommy’s feed is wonderful for home décor inspiration. Her home is beautiful and she has a great knack for staging shots in such a beautiful way. You’ll find a lot of the nice, light, faded colouring in her images and also just the right amount of baby photos. There’s a great balance of family photos to DIY and home decor here.

TypeCity – @typedmonton

Edmonton Instagram - Type Edmonton

I first heard about this account through Carmyn and think it’s just so cool. TypeCity is “hunting for unintentionally beautiful typography in Edmonton.” The dork in me is exploding! This feed reminds me of my old blog Let’s Look Up – where I tried to capture and share interesting ceilings around the city. I think there’s beauty everywhere and TypeCity really nails it here – fonts, typography, signage in Edmonton, can be so pretty. They haven’t updated since June but crossing my fingers they’ll start up again soon!

Instagram YEG – @instagramyeg

Edmonton Instagram - InstagramYEG

Like Travel Alberta and Explore Edmonton, InstagramYEG is a user-generated account, showcasing photos from locals who have tagged their images #igyeg. You’ll find more fantastic local scenery, and lots of artistic shots following this feed.

Omar Mouallem – @omar_aok

Edmonton Instagram - Omar Mouallem

Omar takes great photos of life in Edmonton (and recently his long trip to Europe), but what I like most about Omar’s feed is the sometimes funny, sometimes clever, always interesting captions that go along with the photos. I’ve been following Omar for a long time but hadn’t really thought of his account as one to recommend until my friend Brittney Le Blanc suggested he be put on this list. “I really enjoy his photos.” You will too.

Bissell Centre – @bissellcentre

Edmonton Instagram - Bissell Centre

A nod to the Bissell Centre (namely the man behind their Instagram account, Devin) for capturing photos of something not a whole lot of us are exposed to regularly – the homeless, the less-fortunate in Edmonton. Devin used to post to Hope Mission’s Instagram account as well, which also featured really compelling shots of those in need. There’s always an underlying message of hope and I think it’s important to be reminded in your feed that the city’s not always just pretty landscapes, tasty food and fun events.

Brittney Le Blanc – @britl

Edmonton Instagram - britlradio

Brittney is the girl about town – you probably follow her on Twitter so it would make sense for you to follow her on Instagram too. She’s got a great eye which results in a feed full of cool photos featuring art, food, buildings and best of all, although she doesn’t have a cat of her own, she cat sits ALL the time and therefore posts some pretty adorable cat photos too. (I may be seeing a common thread in a lot of these suggested users… in that they appear to have cats in their feed at some point, LOL).

Cory Christopher – @corychristopher

Edmonton Instagram - Cory Christopher

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a whole lot about flowers but what I do know is that Cory Christopher is a genius when it comes to them. His Instagram feed features the most gorgeous floral arrangements. Light and bright, his photos are all about beauty, art and design. Always delightful to peruse this feed.

Tanja Crnogorac – @tttanja

Edmonton Instagram - Tanja Crnogorac

Although she’s currently living in Shanghai, I still count Tanja Crnogorac’s Instagram feed as local as she’s an Edmontonian. I love Tanja’s photo perspective of life in a foreign country. Her images are simple and well-composed, with an attractive, clean kind of filter. You’ll find a lot of shots from her perspective looking down – on drinks she’s having and outfits of the day. She travels a lot so there was a period where a lot of images were of the bluest oceans you’ve ever seen. Just beautiful! You’ll also find photos of her adorable sometimes-has-him-on-weekends dog Wishbone.

Edmonton Graffiti/Street Art – @yeggraff

Edmonton Instagram - yeggraff

While typedmonton showcases the beautiful fonts and signs around Edmonton, yeggraff documents the sometimes beautiful, sometimes not, graffiti/street art in the city. There’s some great work shown here and it’s always fun to try and guess where the designs are located.

Plus honourable mentions to…

NAIT

Edmonton Instagram - NAIT

Obviously I am completely biased in this suggestion because I work for NAIT and am the main person who updates the NAIT Instagram feed so take what I say with a grain of biased salt. While it’s certainly not the prettiest Instagram feed out there, I do try to make a point to be deliberate about the kind of artsy campus photos I share, and NAIT professional photographers also occasionally post to the account, which adds even more artsy photos to the mix. Beyond the deliberate, artsy shots, we also share photos of successful students, grads, and staff as well as showcasing different events. The Motivation Monday quotes are also usually a hit. More and more students are using Instagram so it’s been great trying to engage where they’re most engaged. I think this account, along with MacEwan U’s, and then the U of A Students one, are really the most active, successful and interesting in terms of Instagram accounts for local schools.

Me! @lindork

Edmonton Instagram - Linda Hoang

If you thought including my work account in the list was biased… what do you think of including me in the list? (Hey when you make a list, feel free to include whoever you want, including yourself!) :) I don’t have one or two particular focuses for my Instagram photos – I usually post photos of my food, my cats and dog, Edmonton events, and occasionally outfit photos and photos with friends, family, and hubby. It is not the most creative, the most artistic, or the most impressive out there locally, but I am pretty happy with how my feed looks when I do a scroll-through and I do try to be deliberate about what I’m sharing and how it looks. Hopefully it makes my followers hungry, inspires them to check out Edmonton events, and makes them go ‘aw’ (pet photos). Feel free to give me a follow if you’re interested in feeling any of those things!

And I’m also going to give a shout-out to my husband Mike (@mikethyking) who was complaining throughout this entire post about why he wasn’t being included on it. So here you go, sweetie. lol

Who are your favourite Edmonton Instagram users to follow? What do you think of the group I’ve rounded up? Let me know, let others know! Leave a comment below.

Check out a master list of all my recommended Edmonton Instagram users!

Linda


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