My favourite social network (after Twitter) is Instagram and I’m not alone in this. It now boasts more than 300 million monthly active users worldwide (more than Twitter), with more than 70 million photos shared each and every day. People love sharing their photos.
When I use Instagram, I try to be pretty deliberate with my posts. Whereas on Twitter and Facebook I’ll post multiple photos from an event or something I’m doing, or on Snapchat (which I am still new to, but feel free to add me at @lindorkyeg) where I’ll share some pretty mundane selfies and things I’m doing throughout the day, I pay far more attention and take far greater care with my Instagram photos – posting at a slower pace (typically one a day), making sure there’s just the right balance of fade, saturation, and highlights, and really taking pride in how the photos look overall in my grid.
My husband Mike sometimes think I care far too much about my Instagram feed (for awhile there I used to post my photos in sets of 3 so that it would match on the grid, lol I’ve since stopped doing that because it was a bit too OCD), but really I am not the only one! Last year I started publishing lists showcasing some of my favourite Edmonton Instagram users – people who also take great care and are super intentional with their Instagram feeds. Looking at their photos inspires me, delights me, and amazes me. Their feeds – which show a “curated life” as my friend Diane likes to say – are far better than mine but that’s where the inspiration comes from! I am always trying to make my Instagram feed better because of how damn good the feeds are of those I follow (and those I end up recommending on this list).
Most people use Instagram pretty casually, and their photos reflect that. That’s not a bad thing. Of course it isn’t. I still love following those accounts too! But I want to make record of the ones who really go out of their way to share great – interesting – photos on Instagram.
It’s become a list I publish twice a year now. Here’s all of the lists I’ve done so far:
- August 20, 2014: Top 26 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow
- February 10, 2015: Top 25 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow
- August 12, 2015: Top 29 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow
- February 29, 2016: Top 30 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow
- October 29, 2016: Top 21 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow
- Check out the master list (links only) for easier following here
There is so much local Instagram talent and I am really excited to share with you the latest version of my favourite Instagram users list. This list features 30 (+1 bonus) users I think you should follow and that still meant I had to exclude a bunch of different users (more fodder for the next list in February I guess!) Check out my recommendations and let me know what you think and what your own favourite accounts to follow are!
I’d also love if you shared the post and of course -> follow me on Instagram @lindork too!
Top 29 Edmonton Instagram Users to Follow (in no particular order)
Jennifer Izquierdo – @littledayminiatures
instagram.com/littledayminiatures
I’m obsessed with Jennifer of Little Day Miniatures miniature jewellery/art. She specializes in hand-sculpted “teeny tiny itty bitty wee” jewellery that’s primarily food. I have no idea how she does it – she is so talented! Her feed – with her super close-up, perfectly focused (with subtle background blur) foods makes me both hungry and want to update my jewellery box. Back in March I also teamed up with Jennifer for a terrarium competition raising money for the Edmonton Public Library’s Welcome Baby program.
instagram.com/foryeg
I really love the simple yet stunning images on this account. It’s full of beautiful, scenic shots of Edmonton, with the nicest, soft colouring. This acount has got the whole landscape buildings and clouds shot perfected, and recently – stunning crowd in the distance shots from various Edmonton events.
instagram.com/ediblewomaneats
Lindsay Angelstad is a baker and blogger who has an incredible eye for photographing perfectly composed, clean and colourful foods (often that she makes herself). Best part? The majority of her stunning food images come with recipes on her blog so you can try to attempt to make her tasty treats in your kitchen.
instagram.com/jennclara_
I came across Jenn Crebas after she shot a friend’s wedding last September. You can follow her photography account @jenncrebasphotography or I like to look at her personal feed. This yoga lover + instructor takes some seriously cool shots. She exudes cool (hip. vintage) and her photos have a really prominent fade that might be a few notches overdone if you tried it – but for her feed, it just works.
instagram.com/littlebrickyeg
All of the Nate Box Empire Instagram feeds are actually super pleasant to look at. The feed for his latest – Little Brick – is a mix between happy workers, customers, simple but beautiful (and beautifully presented) ingredients, and the gorgeous renovated space in the heart of Edmonton. Check out the other cafe accounts – @districtcoffeeco and @elm_cafe (which follows the horizontal photo motif).
instagram.com/automaticshrimp
I really enjoy @automaticshrimp’s bright and contrasted #yegarchitecture. You’ll find a lot of Edmonton buildings of varying angles and perspectives on his feed. Just lots of really cool (and sometimes harsh) lines. Most impressive? It’s all shot with an iPhone 4.
instagram.com/concretecat
I really dig what Concrete Cat does on Instagram as a business. They do a fantastic job showcasing their concrete art and their adorable ‘concreeps’ (look at their creepy yet cute smiles). I love the pastels and the fade and I love how they set up each photo, placing interesting art and props around their concrete work. They have one fantastic photo of a Moonshine Doughnuts box with a perfectly matching concrete cat in place of one of the donuts.
instagram.com/plumintdesign
There’s a lot of great design/style Instagram feeds out there and this one is no exception. It helps that Jenna is also an interior designer and owns a home decor shop so she’s got an endless supply of home inspirations to share – plus a super cute baby. This feed is very clean and lovely to look at.
instagram.com/justinau
I love the fade/filter treatment Justine puts on all of her beautiful images. Similar to Jenn Crebas, I feel like if I tried to fade my images this way, it wouldn’t look right – but when Justine does it, there’s something super calming about the feed. I love her interesting angles, eye for architecture, and positive captions. It’s a super inspiring feed!
instagram.com/overmystyledbody
There are many fashion and design bloggers and Instagrammers, many who have wonderful feeds (and that I’ve recommended before). But Lyndsey of ‘Over My Styled Body’ immediately caught my eye with her bright, vibrant, colourful images. Big, bold splashes of colour and looks will inspire you to dress a bit better – and brighter.
instagram.com/nicoleashley
There are few photographers in Edmonton who are as well-known as Nicole Ashley. Her feed is full of stunning wedding, couple, and boudoir images mixed in with some personal shots and selfies (her hair + hair colour is amazing) – all with a perfected fade + filter that is oh so pleasing on the eyes.
instagram.com/imalyssalau
When you’re talking about hip Edmontonians – Alyssa Lau’s name will likely come up. The founder of @shopnewclassics, a sustainable, ethical, and eco-friendly women’s fashion shop, Alyssa’s photos are so chic and so clean. There’s a pattern of greys and whites, with pops of colour every few photos. She’s got the simple, baggy chic look down – and takes some stunning architecture shots too.
instagram.com/yegventures
Lincoln is another one who has clearly upped his Instagram game in the past year. What I love about Lincoln’s feed is that his photos cover such a wide range of Edmonton events. Following him makes you wonder how he could possibly be at so many places! His feed includes awesome downtown / river valley skyline photos, event photos, and he recently started a #TravelTuesday feature where he shares photos from his travels – every hour throughout the day.
instagram.com/ceden_
Chithra is one of the most talented artists I am lucky to know in real life. Follow her feed for amazingly accurate, and whimsical depictions of people, animals, places, food, and the occasional cat. Careful though, you’ll think her food illustrations are real (and want to eat them).
instagram.com/ilovethemoon
I discovered Mabel’s account through one of my previously recommended users (@justinemadesign). Her people illustrations are so freaken adorable you’ll want to get one done for all of your friends and family. She recently completed a 30 Day Creativity Challenge in which she illustrated a bunch of Edmontonians and is now delivering cards with those illustrations to that lucky group! I’ll use ‘whimsy’ to describe a few different people’s feeds in this blog post and it most definitely applies in this case.
instagram.com/edmontonian
Edmontonian (I’m impressed she was able to snag the username ‘Edmontonian’!) has a really nice, clean and horizontal Instagram feed full of great food photos. She’s mastered the top-looking-down perspective shots, and a very white/grey aesthetic. A lot of her earlier photos had a lot of grey/white backdrops, and she manages to find those backdrops almost everywhere she goes. Great eye.
instagram.com/mikeisaak
Mike Isaak’s stunning, colourful images of the Northern Lights will have you looking to the sky, hoping to catch glimpses of the beauty yourself. His cityscapes and Alberta countryside images are also gorgeous and I love that he’s not only a fantastic landscape photographer and IGer, but a carpenter too. That means that all the matting, framing and stretching he does for canvas prints is all done by him. Neat.
instagram.com/kateblack
It’s no surprise Kate Black’s feed is damn good – it’s got a really similar style to @alexem, who I had previously featured in my Instagram top users lists. The couple who hang together also takes fantastic Instagram photos together? (I think that’s a saying). I love Kate’s colouring, the greenery, buildings, and lots of cool travel photos. This is another cool (very hip) feed to follow.
Christal Sczebel – @nutritionist_in_the_kitch
instagram.com/nutritionist_in_the_kitch
Like Edible Woman, the Nutritionist in the Kitchen’s photos are incredibly composed, so colourful, and will make you hungry. Beauty of her food though? It’ll be pretty healthy! I dig food blogs that have something going for them that most other food blogs don’t – in this case, an emphasis on healthy, delicious foods that a nutritionist would recommend you. If we eat with our eyes, feasting on Christal’s photos will at least keep you healthy.
instagram.com/freeinyeg
I really love FREE’s approach to Instagram from a business perspective. The branding and digital agency uses its Instagram feed to showcase its employees in really creative ways. One employee is obsessed with shoes so they lined up a bunch of his monochromatic pairs for a shot. Another loves to read, bake and knit so they put her creative tools in a row for a shot. It’s a great way to build up a beautiful feed while showcasing the people in the organization.
Julia James – @juliaphotography.ca_
instagram.com/juliaphotography_
Julia’s feed is full of really interesting angles. She’s got this lovely perspective and her feed sports a super pleasing colour palette. It’s certainly not as splashy or as a clean as some of the others on this list, but I think still great and underrated.
instagram.com/204park
For the longest time the 204Park account was run by a trio of friends. Together they shared some stunning, colourful images of ‘pretty things’ and built up quite a following. Now it looks like the account is being handled by just one of the original three and is still a lovely photo collection of pretty things. Personally I prefer when accounts are handled by one person – so you get the most consistent photo tone across the board. 204Park is a lovely mix of food, fashion, and design.
instagram.com/alannakyee
Alanna is a medical laboratory science student with a really fantastic photographic eye. Her feed is super sharp, with gorgeous landscapes and beautiful city buildings. She hasn’t posted a lot, but I hope she does more because what she has put out has been so damn pretty.
instagram.com/hailaaay
Hailey works at @north_53 (a restaurant whose Instagram account I recommended in a previous list) and has an awesome horizontal feed showing mostly lots of buildings, but also lots of shots of her hip friends. I love her caption of one selfie – ‘Leave it to parisian light to romanticize the hell out of a hangover’ which I think applies to a lot of her feed (lovely light that romanticizes the hell out of the subject).
Daniela Andrade – @danielasings
instagram.com/danielasings
I actually did a social media story on Daniela Andrade back in 2013. At the time, she was a very impressive YouTube star (more than 100,000 subscribers) with equally impressive follower numbers on other platforms. She’s still a very impressive YouTube star and a lovely Instagrammer. Most of her followers/fan base aren’t in Edmonton – but they should be: a fan of her music as well as her lovely feed. I am generally not a fan of Instagram Video, but make the exception for Daniela’s videos (and vocals).
instagram.com/inthefunlane
I’m always on the lookout for more bright and colour-popping Instagram feeds and I get that when I look at Holly’s photos. In The Fun Lane adds a bit more of a fade on top of its images – which typically come with a white-grey tone contrasted by a pop of colour. It’s really beautiful.
instagram.com/jamietweedy
Although Jamie’s photos don’t necessarily stop me in my tracks, I do love how this foodie + photographer bucks the trend of your typical full-sized or horizontal Instagram photos and goes for the vertical shot instead. I have yet to find an Instagram account that religiously posts vertical images. The fact that they are sharp, clean, and bright make following Jamie a no-brainer.
instagram.com/gloho_draws
I used to work with artist Gloria Ho’s sister, and only really discovered her work in the last year. Gloria Ho is a watercolour illustrator who specializes in animal illustrations – lots of bears, and recently – lots of cats! She was a vendor for the Edmonton International Cat Festival and made some adorable watercolour cat cards. She does a lot of custom pet illustrations too (so, if anyone wants to get one of Thor, Loki and Olive for me that would be great…)
instagram.com/kimwynnctv
Kim Wynn’s feed epitomizes ‘whimsical.’ Kim has this knack for finding (and showing us) the beauty and the simplest things – from plants to pitchers of juice – her smiling face and more. I love the way her photos are lit, composed, and the slight fade on each image. Her photos make me smile – every single time!
** BONUS **
Tonkey Bear – @bearcoat_tonkey
instagram.com/bearcoat_tonkey
The #31 bonus Instagram account you should follow (and are probably already following because who in Canada (the world?) isn’t already?!) is that of adorable four-month-old bearcoat shar pei puppy Tonkey. Tonkey and her family are from Edmonton and in the last few weeks (July into August 2015) has taken the world by storm. She’s got over 235,000 followers from around the world and has been featured in pretty much everything (from the Buzzfeed to the TODAY Show to People Magazine, all of Edmonton’s major media, and more). Give this adorable pooch a follow and read her (and her mom’s) story in a Social Media Spotlight I wrote here.
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Thanks for browsing my list! I hope you enjoyed it and I really hope you follow some of these amazing accounts!
Please also leave a comment below or tweet/Instagram me & let me know if you agree (or disagree) with the list – and tell me which local accounts you love to follow on Instagram!
You can also check out a master list of all of my recommended Instagram accounts here.
Linda
