Mariel and I first started communicating through a middle-musician – Emma Beaton. Mariel and Emma were in town at the end of their tour and after taking photos of Emma a few years ago, Mariel was in need of some promo photos with the upcoming release of her album. She’s a Berklee School of Music student and a very talented fiddler now based out of Boston. She brought out an instrument I’ve never seen in person, the beautiful Hardanger fiddle, and I was entertained by her playing for the rest of the session. When I photograph musicians, I always feel like I get more out of the session than they do as I always ‘encourage more playing for the sake of the photos’. Selfish, I know! It can be pretty inspiring to hear  musicians play during my sessions, and Mariel was no exception. Head over to Mariel’s site and watch her cute video about the Kickstarter project to fund her first solo album, and hear some of her music of course.

On Monday I had a session with the talented Emma Beaton and Nic Gareiss. I met Emma a few months ago while I was in Boston shooting her group the Folk Arts Quartet. Nic is a fantastic musician and dancer (video here) from Michigan and together the two are playing some shows together on the Island. One additional image from the session is posted over on the Photographer Network blog!

My cousin Bethany contacted me in the early spring to see if I’d like to come to Boston to shoot her wedding at Newton Presbyterian Church on May 30, 2009. Bethany recently graduated from photography school, has since started up her own business in the Boston area, and trusted me to document her day. It was a trip I couldn’t resist! Like many Maritimers, my grandmother’s sister Anna moved to Boston to work when she was young, married my Uncle Lester, and ever since my family in the ‘Boston States’ has been growing in size. I stayed the week with my cousin Rob and his wife Becky and was treated like gold the entire time. On the wedding day I was reunited with cousins I hadn’t seen for 20+ years and had a great time catching up on the years between frames.

Bethany and Jeff were entirely laid back. Bethany arrived back from having her hair done and fired up her espresso machine and began to make lattes for all the girls at her home as if it was any other day! They planned a ceilidh for the evening festivities and after I was finished shooting, my cousin Don and myself hopped in the square set and tore up the floor! A wonderful day full of wonderful people and I can’t wait to return. Congratulations Bethany and Jeff….thanks for including me in your day.

While I was in Boston, I had time to travel into the city for an afternoon. Michael had contacted me just as I had left Boston in the spring and wanted to arranged a portrait/couple session when I returned. With such limited time, one session was all I could manage and I was glad to have been able to spend it with Michael and Annette. Michael contacted me through my pal Ben Powell as they are both graduates of Berklee School of Music, while Annette, a current Berklee student, skipped school for the afternoon for our session.