I’ll be making my annual trip home to Cape Breton in October 2010! I’ll be available for portrait sessions during my visit between October 11-27 on Cape Breton Island, and between October 28-November 3 in the Dartmouth/Halifax area. Send along an email if you’re interested and portrait session details (pdf) can be found here.

After Andrew + Kirsty’s wedding, I met up with my pals Fin and Sarah for a road trip. We spent hours laughing in the car en route to South Uist for Ceolas. When we missed our ferry in Skye, a series of comical events followed from a bird landing on a man in our cafe, a bar fight in Skye, a local unable to understand my accent and thinking I called him Forrest Gump, and hearing an entire ferry boat full of passengers vomiting in stereo. South Uist is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been with lovely white sand beaches and turquoise sea. Fin and Sarah, I wish you lived closer…it took about a week to recover from all the laughing, and wearing our team uniform without you both just isn’t the same!

The Magee Kids are no strangers to my blog. They are quite comfortable around my camera, and little Callum agreed to have his ravioli only if I would sit and take photos of him eating. He calls his big cousin his best friend, even though Jamie’s almost 30 years older, and has his own set of pipes so he can be just like him. The entire family went to watch Kendyl’s dance recital, and I went over to their place early to take some photos of her getting ready and gussied up in her clown costume. Cuteness overload!

Jamie’s article about CeltFest Cuba (accompanied by my photographs) has recently been published by pipes|drums. My fourth installment in the ongoing series “Photographing the Art” is well underway and should be online shortly! For subscribers only.

A short video clip of the Galician pipers at the session at Dos Hermanos is HERE on the pipes | drums YouTube channel.

CeltFest Cuba was held this April in Havana and Jamie and I were in attendance as musicians and visitors to the beautiful city. We were lucky to be included in the opening ceremony where Jamie kicked off the festival with some tunes on the Highland Pipes. Other events included teaching a Highland Pipes workshop to the Galician and Asturian pipers, a poolside BBQ at the Canadian Embassy, a graveside memorial for Newfoundland-born Mary McCarthy Gomez Cueto, and Eduardo Lorenzo, ‘The Last Piper of Havana‘, a pipe parade, and a great concert at the Galician Society. There were sessions every evening at Cafe O’Reilly, and one session at Hemingway’s favourite watering hole, Dos Hermanos. We heard great tunes throughout the festival and managed to make a lot of new piper friends, despite the language barrier…as long as there’s music, there’s always an understanding. We spent a fair deal of time talking and comparing stories (many times through a translator) with the Galician and Asturian pipers….trading secrets and tricks. CeltFest Cuba will be happening again next year! Check out their website to see the list of performers from this year, and stay tuned to see who will be in attendance for 2011!

We just returned home from playing pipes at CeltFest Cuba. This was the first year for the festival and with venues all around the city, I managed to take a few photos traveling between workshops and shows. We spent the entire week in Havana, heard some great music, met some wonderful new friends, and are looking forward to returning next year. More festival related images to follow.

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.

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.

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.

A few images from a weekend away in November to Tofino. Helene Cyr and her surfer son Felix, Jenna and Tristan Shouldice, my Jamie and myself, hopped in a van for a few days to recharge and relax after a busy season for all. It may be the most I’ve laughed in a single weekend…

2009 has been fabulous and throughout my travels, I’ve met many wonderful, interesting, and inspiring characters. On the last day of this year, I’d like to express a giant, hearty thank-you to my clients for trusting me. Big thanks to my family and friends at home in Cape Breton (and beyond), and here in Victoria for your constant support and encouragement. Plus, an extra-special thanks to my Jamie for his love and patience…and his ability to turn location-scouting with me into an adventure. Gold stars are also awarded to my mother and Judy Kit for the most comments on the blog for 2009! Thank you!!

I have a lot of exciting projects and trips lined up for 2010, so stay tuned to my adventures here and each Monday on the Photographer Network blog!

I’ve put together a slideshow of some of my favourite images from the year, to the music of one of my favourite bands, Flook.

Wishing you all the very best for 2010!
Ryan

The third installment of images of pipers and drummers for pipes|drums is online for subscribers. I’m currently working on the fourth part of the series with exciting plans for the project in the New Year. Many thanks to pipes|drums editor Andrew Berthoff, for allowing me to showcase these images. He invited me to start this project with the only guideline being that the images focused on piping and drumming subjects…pretty much a dream assignment for me! To see images from the previous two installments, head to pipes|drums (for subscribers), or check out my site for a few samples.

My sister is a midwife and while I was home, she picked some of the herbs from her garden to make some tinctures.