On Saturday, we had a quick visit with old friends James and Kylie MacHattie. This talented pair of pipers, now members of Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, were set to be the entertainment for the evening at the Vancouver Island Pipers Club. They arrived late in the afternoon and were willing to let me take their photos as part of the pipes | drums installment, Photographing the Art (subscribers only), before we made our way to the club for the evening…..which continued well into the morning (like any good group of pipers) telling stories and having some great laughs. James and Kylie are also celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary in the very near future, so it was a bit of a double-whammy session.

An image from this session was also featured as my Photo of the Week on the Photographer Network blog.

Each year when I go home, I put time aside to stay with my long, long, longtime pal Bonnie Jean. During my visit last October, Bonnie Jean and Michael invited me to their appointment when they found out that they were having two little girls. Rowan and Riley arrived a few months premature this year, but to see them now, you’d never know. Bonnie Jean and Michael make it look easy juggling two active, teething, on the verge of crawling babies. I guess it helps that the girls are very much like their parents. They’re easy going and they love to laugh…I can’t wait to see the people they become. Oh, the stories I have to tell them!!

Lauren contacted me to take some photos of herself and her horses during my stay in Halifax. She’s an equestrian trainer and takes care of the horses at Maurway Stables, just outside of the city.

Grace contacted me to take some family portraits during my stay in New Glasgow. They had a beautiful barn in their back yard complete with a collection of homemade bird houses.

Shoshanna Fraser is a Cape Breton photographer who contacted me after I returned to Victoria last fall from my visit East. She was pregnant at the time and was hoping to have some maternity photos taken and since I usually head home for my annual visit in October, that shoot wouldn’t work out. We managed to make plans for a shoot during this trip and planned to shoot rain or shine. Her daughter Finley (in Shoshanna’s words), is a ‘tough Cape Breton girl’ and at 7.5 months old, she tolerated the wind, rain, and chilly temperatures on our early morning shoot at Little River Wharf. Thanks to Merrill’s shack, we were able to still shoot and get some shelter from the elements.

Bhreagh and I met way back in the days when we were both students at the Gaelic College. She’s a great fiddler and played many gigs with those of us in the Gaelic College Pipe Band at the time. We met for our session at her Aunt’s house in St. Ann’s, just around the corner from the College. Bhreagh’s brother and sister came along to the session, and although everyone was pretty tired from the Celtic Colours Festival Club the night before, we had a pretty good time kicking around the property. Speaking of kicking, Bhreagh’s daughter Ainsley is quite the Irish dancer and showed us some moves on the shed step (aka trying to stay warm). Stay tuned over the next while for another post featuring Bhreagh and her band, Woven.

After the Sound Advice school in Regina this July, I stayed a few extra days and spent the weekend with the MacDonald Family. I’ve already taken photos of Barb and Eilidh during their time in Victoria at the Canadian Highland Dancing Championships, but it was time to take some photos of the whole family together. Iain organizes the Sound Advice school and Eilidh (also a piper) and Ruaridh (a tenor drummer) both attended. After catching up on some much needed sleep, we had a quick visit with Iain’s mother then made our way out to a great red barn for the rest of the session (as recommended by Eilidh).

I was hoping to get these images edited for this week as Iain and Eilidh are over in Scotland to attend the World Highland Dancing Championships in Cowal where Eilidh will be competing…best of luck!! You may recognize superhero expert Duncan from my blog post a few weeks ago over on the Photographer Network blog. The entire family plays in the City of Regina Pipe Band, and they’ll also be part of the upcoming installment of Photographing the Art for pipes|drums. Stay tuned!