I had a session with Sabra MacGillivray during the week of Celtic Colours. She was needing some promotional photos for her upcoming instructional dance dvd, so we met at Little River in between shows and festival clubbing! It was absolutely freezing around the wharf with the wind cutting right through us, but Sabra made it look like a balmy day! Sabra and I go way back and used to spend summers teaching together at the Gaelic College, and even spent a few weeks as roommates in one of the super-haunted dorm rooms. She’s a lovely highland dancer and stepdancer, as well as a Registered Massage Therapist/business owner at Celtic Touch Day Spa…make sure to stop by on your next visit to Cregnish! Sabra’s fisherman husband Iain came along for the session so we managed to tear him away from visiting the fishermen on their boats and in a few photos.

I really miss the Cutcliffe Family when I’m on the West Coast. I stay with them when I’m in the Halifax/Dartmouth area during my East Coast trips, and their three girls are some of my favourite people in the world. I’ve said it before, but Bonnie Jean and Michael are great parents and I genuinely love every second I get to spend with the family. The girls are are comical, entertaining, sweet as sugar, and perfect mix of their parents. Our session was around Halloween, where the twins dressed up as pirates and liked to say ‘Arrrrr trick or treat!’ all day long. Love these girls with all my heart, and the whole Cutcliffe family.

Bonnie Jean and the twins made cupcakes on Halloween day. I took a lot of video this day because I didn’t want to forget how cute and proud they were as bakers…pirate bakers actually. The morning I left, they put on their baking kerchiefs again and made me ‘panpakes’ for breakfast.

My session with the Hicks Family was spread over two days due to frosty temperatures on our first attempt. They were actually my first and last session in Dartmouth. Dave and Kelly gave me a bottle of Highland Park 12 as a present, and on one of the really (sort of) cool evenings here in Victoria, I’m going to crack the bottle and be reminded of that freezing day at Fisherman’s Cove. Angus and Isla are super cute kids, and like past years, Islay treated me to a whole medley of songs during the session. This year’s mega-hit was Mr. Sun. Ironically we didn’t feel a bit of the warmth of Mr. Sun, but she was pretty cute singing the song.

Following my session with the McKinnon Family, I had a session with the Lake Family. Emerald is one of Angela’s highland dancing students. Emerald’s mom (also named Angela), wanted to get some photos of Emerald in her highland dancing outfit before we started the family portion of the session, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell it was freezing outside. Emerald was an absolute trooper in the cold!