7 Aug

OSHEAGA 2012: A PHOTO ESSAY BY SUSAN MOSS

Posted by Brendan Murphy

We’ve already published a recap of Osheaga 2012 that featured the marquee musicians that helped draw over 120,000 people to Montreal for the 3 day music fest. Now we’d like to share photographer Susan Moss’s photo gallery, which focuses its attention on some of the faces that filled out that record-breaking crowd…Last year, Susan Moss shot some great photos of the 2011 Osheaga Music and Arts Festival that focused primarily on the audience members that help make Osheaga the incredible success that it is. If Susan or I knew anything about fashion, we might call these types of posts “Osheaga Street Style Guides” or something cool like that. But we don’t. So we’ll just call them photo essays and let the pics speak for themselves.

Moss, an accomplished photographer with over 20 years of experience, has documented each one of the seven editions of the festival held annually on Parc Jean-Drapeau.

“Great bands, some huge and some lesser known, Osheaga has introduced me to a lot of new awesome music,” says Moss. “So much to do- the arts section gets better every year and, definitely, the amazing food helps.”

As an official photographer with Evenko (the group behind Osheaga), Moss has had unique access to the fest over the years and her personal highlights, not surprisingly, fairly impressive. “Shooting Iggy Pop, The Kills, getting to be onstage with Snoop Dogg, Pavement, The Roots and many more. And I always love the crowd’s energy and outfits.”

And what were her highlights for 2012? “I think women ruled the fest this year- Feist, Dum Dum Girls, Metric, Kathleen Edwards, Garbage, Santigold and more.”

How about the shot she was most excited about? “Florence and the Machine for sure. I was excited to photograph her for the first time, with her long red hair, butterfly-sleeved dress, fans blowing, running around the stage singing like an angel.”

“But really, what I like most about Osheaga is instead of being stuck inside in a venue, I’m able to get outside in a beautiful, natural setting – even if the weather was crazy this weekend- and experience great music from some of my favorite bands.”