Founded in Vancouver, BC, in 1967, Mustang Survival is a Canadian company dedicated to protecting life on the water. For nearly 60 years, they've been designing innovative marine safety gear and technical apparel for those who sail, fish, paddle, work, and explore on the water. From life jackets and dry suits to outerwear built for the elements, their work is rooted in a deep understanding of our relationship with the natural world.

But what we particularly love about Mustang Survival is that their commitment extends beyond the people who venture onto the water to the waters themselves.

Through Blue Friday, their ocean-conscious alternative to Black Friday, Mustang Survival directs a portion of its seasonal sales toward protecting and restoring BC's coastlines. It's an initiative that has helped remove thousands of pounds of marine debris from our shores, supporting the health of the ecosystems and communities that depend on them.

And then there's the storytelling. Mustang Survival regularly collaborates with BC photographers to capture the people, places, and wild coastlines that inspire their work, including recent photography projects on Haida Gwaii and the Sunshine Coast. Like FOLKLIFE, they recognize the power of photography to tell stories, connect us to place, and encourage us to see the world a little differently.

Mustang Survival is also looking ahead, with a new women's collection launching in spring 2027, designed to encourage more women to get out on the water and explore the wild places around them. We're especially excited to introduce our community to a BC brand that's creating more opportunities for women to feel confident, capable, and at home in the outdoors.

With roots in British Columbia and a community that reaches across Canada and overseas, Mustang Survival shares our love for the coast, the outdoors, and the people who make their lives within these landscapes.

We're delighted to welcome Mustang Survival as a sponsor of FOLKLIFE's inaugural Photo Contest. It's a partnership that celebrates not only the art of photography, but the places we call home, the stories worth telling, and our shared responsibility to care for the world around us.

Life is beautiful. Life is messy. Life is strange, surprising, heartbreaking, hilarious, and sometimes downright feral.

At FOLKLIFE, where we’re slow, artsy, and intentional, we're interested in all of it.

After years of dreaming about it, we're launching our very first photography contest: an invitation to show us the world through your eyes. The moments that make you feel something. The details others might miss. The things hidden that may heal if brought to light. The extraordinary hiding in the everyday.

We're not necessarily looking for the most polished photograph or the most breathtaking landscape. We're looking for images that tell us something about being alive. Photographs with feeling, perspective, and a story to tell.

Rooted in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, FOLKLIFE celebrates stories that resonate far beyond them. This contest is an extension of that: a celebration of the lives unfolding here and farther afield.

Five categories. Four celebrating life in British Columbia, and one for folk from farther afield. We can't wait to see what you see.

Yes. Enter as many photos, in as many categories, as you'd like. Each photo is a separate $5 entry. 

January 15th, 2027 and the Grit Volume will be sent to print March.

Your photograph will always belong to you. By entering the contest, you retain full copyright and ownership of your work.

If your photograph is selected as a winner or honourable mention, you grant FOLKLIFE a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence to use it in connection with FOLKLIFE, including in our print and digital publications, website, newsletters, social media, advertising, and promotional materials.

We may use selected photographs at any time, including after the contest has ended, without seeking additional permission or providing additional payment. We will credit you as the photographer wherever reasonably possible.

You remain free to use, publish, exhibit, or sell your photograph elsewhere. FOLKLIFE will not sell your photograph as a standalone product or license it to unrelated third parties without your additional permission.

Photographs that are not selected as winners or honourable mentions will not be published or used by FOLKLIFE without your permission.

No. Every photograph must be made by you with a camera, digital or film. That rules out images generated by AI tools, and edits that add, remove, or replace parts of a scene with generative tools. If we suspect an image isn't authentic, we may ask to see the original file, and entries that break this rule or can't be verified will be disqualified and are not eligible for a refund.

No. Please share work that hasn't yet found a home with us.

Yes. Just mention it in your note. The only exception is a photo licensed exclusively to someone else.

Upload a JPG or PNG at the highest resolution you have, at least [e.g. 3000 px on the long edge]. Film is welcome: scan it and upload the scan. Please no watermarks, borders, or text.

If recognizable people appear in a private setting, please make sure they're okay with it. If your photo wins, we'll ask for a signed release, and for anyone under 18, a parent or guardian signs it. The same goes for someone else's artwork (a mural, a sculpture) if it's the focus of the photo rather than part of the scene.

You must be 18 or older to enter.

The category depends on where the photo was taken, not where you live. Photos from British Columbia go into one of the four BC categories. Photos from anywhere else go into Folk from Farther Afield.

No. You must be the photographer and own the copyright.

We love honest, tender, and wild. We won't accept sexually explicit images, anything that puts someone at risk or shows cruelty, or hateful content. Non-sexual nudity is welcome in the right context.

We love black-and-white photography, but as FOLKLIFE is a full-colour publication, we're accepting colour photographs only for this contest.

Yes. Everyone who isn't selected will get an email by January 9th, 2027.