Today we will be celebrating the life and legacy of Nana. Jamie’s Nana, Ella May Watling, was one of the first people I met from Jamie’s family, about 11 or 12 long years ago. From that moment she treated me the same as all of her other grandchildren. In my mind and heart, she was my Nana, and we will miss her more than we can possibly imagine. A week before she went into the hospital, I woke up with a strong need to make a trip out to take some photos of her. None of would have expected her to leave us so quickly, so the images are very special. We took my laptop to the hospital and played her a slideshow of the images from the recent post, ‘Cupcakes’ so Nana could see her great-grandchildren one last time.

Her granddaughter Jacquie, wrote a great little note about her on the JWT Reedmakers blog a while back which sums everything up just right.

So, here’s an image of our Nana a few weeks ago. We will love you always.

Fresh from playing in Vancouver at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics, Ashley MacIsaac came to Victoria to play a show with Quinn and Qristina Bachand. I met the Bachands briefly at Celtic Colours this past October…which is funny when you think it took heading to Cape Breton to meet when we all live in Victoria. Quinn, a fabulous 14 year old multi-talented musician, has been accompanying Ashley for the past good while on gigs. Quinn’s sister Qristina, is a talented and energetic fiddler, and she also made her debut as a singer at the show. One additional image from this evening can be found on the Photographer Network blog.

It’s always a treat on this coast, to hear some good Cape Breton music….which reminds me, tune in this Sunday, March 7th, to the webcast of the East Coast Music Awards. Mary Jane Lamond will be using my images as her backdrop during her performance.

About a month ago, Jacquie’s friend Molly came to visit. The two had played together in the 87th Cleveland Pipe Band, and now that Molly lives in the Pacific Northwest, it was time for a visit to Victoria. Jacquie was finishing up a shift at work, so we picked up Molly from the ferry and killed some time by taking her to some of Victoria’s strangest attractions.

Saturday was my birthday. Jamie and myself went for dinner at The Mint with some photographer friends…Jenna +Tristan and Andrea + Lana. Good food, great friends, and lots of laughs.

The Macpherson Family are no strangers to the British Columbia Pipe Band scene. Angus has been a long-time Pipe Major, adjudicator, Games Chairman of the BC Highland Games, past President of the BC Piper’s Association, and now current Pipe Major of the New Westminster Police Pipe Band. His wife Judi, organizes the piping, drumming, and band events at the BC Highland Games (and she’s possibly one of the most patient people around to deal with the hectic schedules of three family members involved in pipe bands!). Their kids are both members of the current World Pipe Band Champions, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Neil is a very accomplished piper, and his little sister Katey a talented tenor drummer.

With the winning hardware from the competition, they packed up the car and came to the Island for some photos, and since the band had to cross the Atlantic to compete in Glasgow at the World Pipe Band Championships, I figured it’d be suiting to place them in the Pacific. Here’s a video link to view their big win.

We made cupcakes with Jamie’s little cousins on Valentine’s Day. Kendyl was a baking machine, and Callum….well, he ate his weight in cupcakes. We were thinking we may have to put the hose on him before their mom came to pick them up because he was covered with sprinkles and blobs of chocolate.

Jacquie invited me to come along with her as she got her fourth tattoo today. She’s been waiting for this one for quite some time and the phrase was taken from the City of Victoria Pipe Band’s 1976 album titled Play the Sweet Music. Jacquie’s dad, James W Troy, was Pipe Major of the highly successful band, and said the phrase often to his kids as they were learning the pipes and drums. Jacquie was tough as nails while being tattooed, and I managed to capture one of very few winces she made…she’s small, but mighty. Her artwork was done by Colin Wiley at Tattoo Zoo.

I had another shoot with talented Victoria singer and songwriter Paul O’Brien last week. We had been trying for some time to get together for some new promotional images for his upcoming tour in Germany, and finally had a good day to head outdoors. We took some photos downtown Victoria behind The Irish Times Pub and The Bard and Banker Pub, two regular gig venues for Paul, and then made our way to the top of Mount Douglas for the rest of his session. I shot the album work for Paul’s most recent album, Walk Back Home released by Stockfisch Records. If you’re in the neighbourhood, be sure to stop in and have a listen to Paul’s great music at the pub.

We made a Sunday afternoon visit with Jamie’s Nana and her boyfriend Henning and I thought it would be nice to take some photos of them out by Nana’s garden shed before we left. Henning was singing and entertaining and giving us his finest Clint Eastwood impressions in his Danish accent. One additional image from the series is over on the Photographer Network blog.

While her brother was off competing at the Midwest Highland Arts Fund Winter Storm in Kansas City, Jacquie came over for the evening. We went for a curry, I took a few photos of her on my floor, and then we got repulsed watching Food, Inc. She’s just recently started her blog, Layered Design, and is the writer for the JWT Reedmakers blog. One of the images from the evening was my Photo of the Week on the Photographer Network blog.