I had a session yesterday with Ivonne Hernandez, Trent Freeman, Karrnnel Sawitsky, and Eric Wright. They’re a newly-formed string quartet, recording soon, and you’re going to want to hear them! More to come down the road once I get caught up on these family sessions.

I had my second annual McKinnon Family portrait session during my trip East. I drove to Lunenburg to meet Angela, Matthew and Maria and we spent a few blustery, cold hours taking some photos around some fishing shacks and downtown Lunenburg.

When Finley got a new little sister, it was time for another family session with Shoshanna and her family. This year I went to their home in Balls Creek, Cape Breton for their session, and we had a bit of a warmer day than our last session a few years back. It was pretty neat walking into their home and seeing giant canvas prints of my images all over their walls! Hopefully there’s some wall space for some more images, because Isla needs her own wall of giant prints!

Kent was a grade ahead of me in school. I think Sara and her sister were the first set of twins I ever saw as a little kid, because I can still remember the day clearly along with the confusion of seeing two of the same person. Kent and Sara got married and now have the sweetest little baby boy named Lawson. When I went to their home in Baddeck for their session, Lawson was just a month old and he was pretty sleepy …it’s hard work doing all of that growing! Alexander Graham Bell’s boathouse is on their property, so they dressed Lawson up in his warm bear suit and we went outside for a few photos. He stayed awake for about five minutes and then passed out again for another nap. It was really great to finally have a session with Kent and his family as it’s been in the works for some while. I’m really looking forward to seeing Lawson grow up through the years…he’s pretty lucky to have such cool folks.

We laughed. Holy smokes we laughed during this session!! I arrived at the Gillis household and had a little visit before we started shooting. The kids were in fine form and every single thing that came out of their mouths was hilarious. The damn cat, the damn Leafs, general bathroom humour, you name it. Brenley had a mere dozen or so outfit changes lined up for herself (complete with a wide array of sequins to match the rural setting), and her mom Dawn joked that she thought perhaps she was part crow. Every 20 minutes or so, she’d disappear into the house and reappear in a new and fully accessorized outfit, much like Beyonce at the Grammy Awards. Madden is a natural comedian and he’s only a toddler…I can’t even imagine the things he’ll say when he realizes he’s funny! You don’t have to search too hard to see where the kids get their comedic ways…their parents are a laugh and a half! At one point the kids started killing themselves laughing, and when I turned around to see what was so funny, Dawn was cartwheeling across the lawn! I might just hire her to cartwheel herself through every session if that’s the reaction it produces!