Kimberley Fraser and I go way back to the days when we were both instructors at the Gaelic College. She’s an outstanding Cape Breton fiddler and a student at the Berklee College of Music. While I was visiting in March, I met with Kimberley earlier in the week when we played together for Berklee’s International Folk Festival and we decided then and there that we’d spend an afternoon together to take some photos. She was playing tunes during our session and I was having a really hard time keeping still and not tapping my foot the whole time…she’s such a great player! If you’re a lover of Cape Breton fiddling check out this video of Kimberley playing at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, Cape Breton.

As promised, a few more photos from my ultra-entertaining shoot with the Spires family at their home in ‘sunny’ Tsawwassen. Well, except for the day of our shoot, Tsawwassen claims to be the sunniest area in Greater Vancouver. Ashley arranged the shoot as she’s following her heart and moving away and realized she didn’t have any family portraits to hang on her walls in Saskatchewan.

The Spires were comical and cracking jokes the whole shoot. Sarcasm is second nature to each family member, even Shortpants (aka Ethan, Ashley‘s nephew….always referred to as ‘Shortpants‘). I was certain Ashley‘s mom was part Maritimer when we arrived back to the house and within seconds she had a full spread of sweets and black as tar coffee on the table….it was like heaven.

Best of luck to Ashley on her move….for all of you that have kids or love kid’s books, Ashley is a talented illustrator and author. Her recent book, “Penguin and the Cupcake” is filled with humour and the illustrations are beyond beautiful. Don’t forget to check out her beautiful and unique finger puppets as well!