Jill was my roommate at university. We were sort of forced together a few weeks into the first month of school. For some reason, I was put into a French residence…meaning I had to speak French 24/7. I can’t speak French. I had to request a residence transfer, and as it turned out, so did Jill’s roommate. We had a basement room in our residence and were thick as thieves within hours. When we were roommates off-campus, we would skip class (sorry Mom) and meet at home to watch a really terrible soap opera, while drinking really terrible Irish Cream flavored instant coffee…and it was absolutely wonderful. She’s still the one person who beats me to sending an email when I’m thinking of her. Today, I sent her a link to the gallery of her images and the first line of her response was, ‘I was just thinking of you.’ It never fails.

This year, my Jill married her Kris. They’ve known each other forever, they’ve traveled and taught around the world together, and they finally had a surprise wedding in March. The distance made it difficult for me to attend, and I missed their wedding celebration party this summer as I was shooting another wedding in Victoria. My present to them was this rainy day session at one of their favourite places, Melmerby Beach.

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.

Carinna and Ivo were married on September 6th at Providence Farm in Duncan. Ivo’s family and friends traveled from Amsterdam, while Carinna’s family came from Toronto and both families provided sing-a-long entertainment during the reception. Everyone partied and danced as the rain poured down, quite typical of a West Coast September day.