A quick sneak peek of two sweet sisters. Thinking lots about my sister Shannon today as she’s en route to a 7 month placement as a midwife in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Doctor’s Without Borders...a safe and speedy return Bubby! As for me, I’m making my way through the piles of edits, and will have more from Bria and Arwen’s shoot shortly.

I knew Graham from my piping days in Ontario. He’s recently moved to Vancouver and came to Victoria to have a few portraits taken with his pipes.

I met little Duncan and his family at Fort Rodd Hill for a portrait session during their visit to Victoria. He told me about recently losing his tooth by biting into some candy (watermelon taffy I believe?). There was no shortage of laughter during this session…pretty cute when your subject is missing his front tooth!

Joanna and Justin booked a session to celebrate her 30th birthday. We met up in the morning and took photos around Beacon Hill Park followed by a quick trip down to the ocean. I sat in a pile of burs and barely missed stepping on a garter snake during this session (the latter being a major fear of mine, which I had been telling Joanna and Justin minutes prior to the incident). I survived what felt like a near snake attack, continued to high step through the long grass, and had a great time with Joanna and Justin.

I had a session with Vancouver-based band, The Paperboys while they were in Victoria playing at Butchart Gardens. Within the 8 piece band, is also a 5 piece band, three 3 piece bands, a duo, and a 5 piece Latin band….talk about versatile! Keep your eyes peeled for The Paperboys playing in your area!

Kate and Trevor received a gift certificate for a portrait session at their baby shower from Kate’s sister, Jane. 7 weeks later, I was introduced to their baby girl Kamryn during our session at Kate’s parent’s home. This wasn’t the first time that a baby has peed during a session, but it’s the first time a baby has peed all over her grandmother’s bedroom wall, stripping the paint! As the first grandchild however, Kamryn was off the hook…how could anyone be angry at that face!

I had a quick session last night with the Boston-based Folk Arts Quartet (Ivonne Hernandez, Liz Davis Maxfield, Jenna Moynihan, and Lea Kirstein). They arrived in Victoria from a tour in Saskatchewan, where Ivonne (in the purple tights) broke her foot dancing (we like to joke that it was in the mosh pit at the folk festival). Yesterday was her first day with a removable cast, so hiking around taking promo photos with crutches and a fiddle was a bit of an ordeal. Luckily we were speedy enough to catch some of the beautiful golden evening light and hit up one more location before the sun went down. The FAQ are performing a few times before heading back to Boston so check out their schedule to find out the details or have a listen to them here!

Liam won me over with his dimples. Sure he’s a baby and all, but those dimples! His mom Meghann (also a piper), arranged for a portrait session with her sisters and their kids while I was in Regina for the week. The session was for Meghann’s parents, as they’re celebrating their 45th anniversary this year.

For the past two summers, I’ve been able to make a trip to Regina to teach at Sound Advice. I had a photo session with the Brin family last summer while Jody was pregnant with Nicholas, and this summer a session with the whole Brin Diakow crew. After the session, the Brins cooked up a great supper and presented me with a Saskatchewan survival kit…my own Roughriders T-shirt, a hat from a ‘famous’ bar in Northern Saskatchewan, a mosquito net, and some AfterBite. As a blackfly magnet, that little stick of AfterBite kept me sane for the rest of the week!

During Victoria’s JazzFest, I had a session with pianist Cedric Hanriot. Cedric is from France and was in town playing with the Ben Powell Quartet. Being a touring musician, he brought his suitcase to the shoot which contained all of his clothing and this tiny keyboard.

The day we landed in Glasgow, I had a session with Scott Currie and his daughter Kirsty. Along with being a talented web designer, Scott is a tenor drummer (now bass drummer) with The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band, and owns Scott Currie Percussion. It’s pretty obvious the tenor drumming bug has bitten 5 year old Kirsty, and her ‘concentration face’ is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve seen! Stay tuned to pipes|drums for more images from this session in the upcoming installment of Photographing the Art.

Whenever I have a session with a musician, I always ask them to play. It’s never really because I need them playing in the photograph…it’s because I selfishly want to listen. My dear friend Ben Powell is here performing in the Victoria JazzFest. This is a musician you don’t want to miss!! You should take a few minutes to devour his site (www.ben-powell.com). It has lots of clips and videos of him performing, and reading his remarkable bio will make any musician get out their instrument to start practicing…especially when you find out he’s only 24. It was lovely to spend an afternoon with Ben last week. Since he’s based out of Boston our paths don’t cross too often, but when they do we spend most of the time laughing (mostly at how he tries to mimic my accent and phrases with his English accent). Victoria JazzFest is underway…catch The Ben Powell Quartet playing July 2nd + 3rd at the Hotel Grand Pacific as well as July 3rd at Centennial Square!

Victoria musician Paul O’Brien has shown up numerous times on my blog. His wife Louise, requested a family portrait session for her birthday present this year. They live in a lovely area of Victoria overlooking the ocean, so we stuck pretty close to home for their session. Since music runs in the family, keep your eyes peeled throughout the summer for some super-talented buskers…the kids entertained me with their singing throughout the session and they’re definitely worth stopping to have a listen!

We’ve been lucky to have our pal Mike based in Victoria while he’s on course with the Navy. Along with being a Petty Officer, Mike is a fellow Maritimer, and a tenor drummer with the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band. As part of my ongoing pipes|drums project, Mike took me behind the scenes at Naden for his portrait session. Stay tuned to pipes|drums for the upcoming installment which will include the images of Mike (with his tenor sticks).

I had another quick visit with Alexio, Amel and Pierre last week. Along with having a newborn, Amel and Pierre are new homeowners and Pierre is in the midst of renovations throughout the house. He arrived back from Home Depot halfway through my visit so I managed to steal him away from his handyman tasks for a few moments for some portraits of himself and Alexio.