During my visit to Glasgow I had a session with Michelle Stewart. No matter where I travel, I can always take comfort that the Cape Bretoners will come out of the woodwork! Michelle now lives in Scotland and is the enthusiastic mastermind behind Bodhran Expert. Always positive, encouraging, and full of great ideas, Michelle is a wonderful teacher…both online and in person!

I’ve known Sheila since we were kids. We were both day-students at the Gaelic College and often met over bagged lunches in the cafeteria with the other 3 day students. We ended up in the same piping classes and played in the same pipe band. When a couple of guys from the Aberdeen Celtic Society came over to the College, Sheila met Calum and…the rest is history. They now live in Scotland with their two adorable freckly kids Christy and Duncan. During my trip over to Glasgow, they came into the city to pick me up and we drove out to the Whitelee Windfarm for their session. Lots of laughs followed until the moment we went for lunch and little Duncan spotted the life-sized skeleton statue in the cafe. He ate his sandwich in tears underneath the table and we bolted once the last bites were chewed.

I had a quick session with Angus, Kenneth and Calum MacKenzie following the Piper’s Ceilidh during Celtic Colours. After the finale, we beelined to South Haven to my old piping instructor’s house, and had a quick chat with her grandmother to ask if we could borrow her barn for a few photos. She thought we were a bit crazy, but laughed and said fine…as long as I would take a few photos of the boys in front of the barn on her camera. Not only are the MacKenzie boys super multitalented musicians, they’re among the funniest people I know. Like any good trio of brothers, they were pestering each other the entire session and laughing at the expense of the others (mostly Kenneth). The boys released an album, “Piob Is Fidheall” last year and it’s really great! They kindly allowed me to use a track for my year end slideshow and if you haven’t heard them play yet, make it a priority as they’re pure talent!

In November I had a session with The Fretless. They’re a brand new string quartet comprised of super-talented members Ivonne Hernandez, Karrnnel Sawitsky, Trent Freeman, and Eric Wright. They were meeting in Victoria to record their debut album, and since they come from Vancouver Island via Boston, Saskatchewan and Los Angeles, it made sense to have their promo photos taken while they were all in the same city. It was a freezing day, but we managed to stay warm with hot soy beverages and laughter…lots of laughter. If you head over to their website, you can hear a few tracks they recorded. I was sent three tracks to preview last evening, and it’s really good so I’m looking forward to hearing the whole album! Don’t be confused when you see the name Mile Zero…that one was on the drawing board for a while, but they are now officially ‘The Fretless‘.

If you weren’t actually there, you wouldn’t believe from the photos that Travis and Kate were married in Port Townsend, WA on December 17th. We woke up to a typical dark, damp, Pacific Northwest December morning. I went to the chapel to take some photos of folks decorating, followed by a quick trip into town for coffee, and by the time I came back to Fort Worden to photograph Kate and Travis getting ready, the sun was out and it felt like a September day! I’ve known Travis through piping for a good long while and he introduced me to Kate over Skype about a month before their wedding. The wedding was exactly what I would have envisioned. Kate, Travis, and their friends and family came together to help make and create almost everything for the day…the dessert buffet table, the decorations, Kate’s veil, and probably the most unique ‘made’ detail were the rings! Kate and Travis met with a Portland jeweler and spent an entire day in his workshop designing and making their rings from start to finish. Kate’s dress was amazing and she wore a pair of fantastic mustard satin heels, and Travis had a custom pair of Nike sneakers with ‘O’Futton 4 Life’ stitched into the back of the kicks. They were married in the evening and the dancing and partying continued well into the wee hours of the morning. So much fun! Thanks for picking me O’Futtons! A few additional images are on their sneak peek HERE.