After Andrew + Kirsty’s wedding, I met up with my pals Fin and Sarah for a road trip. We spent hours laughing in the car en route to South Uist for Ceolas. When we missed our ferry in Skye, a series of comical events followed from a bird landing on a man in our cafe, a bar fight in Skye, a local unable to understand my accent and thinking I called him Forrest Gump, and hearing an entire ferry boat full of passengers vomiting in stereo. South Uist is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been with lovely white sand beaches and turquoise sea. Fin and Sarah, I wish you lived closer…it took about a week to recover from all the laughing, and wearing our team uniform without you both just isn’t the same!

I had a very quick session with Calum and Niall on my last day in Halifax. Their mom Chrissy, is one of my oldest pals. We played in the pipe band together and were always roommates on band trips, and together we had an acronym-based code language. Our session was the day before Halloween and by the time I arrived at their place, Calum had already been a Clone Trooper at his school party and had consumed enough sugar to turn him in to a tiny human tornado. He gave me my workout for the day as I tried to keep up with him through the piles of leaves, up and down the ladder to the tree house, and in and out of the house. Niall, on the other hand, was freshly changed out of his Darth Vader baby costume and was pretty chilled out…too tiny for candy this Halloween.

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!

I’ll be making my annual trip home to Cape Breton in October to play at the Celtic Colours International Festival. I’ve extended my trip for the whole month and will be making myself available for sessions (info here). I’ll be on the Island from October 6-24, and in the Dartmouth/Halifax area from October 26-30. Along with my commitments to the festival, I’ve already been contacted by a few people wanting portrait sessions. The following dates are already booked:

Saturday, October 10 (can fit in another session on this date as long as it is on the Northside)
Sunday, October 11
Tuesday, October 13 (piping in Christmas Island)
Saturday, October 17 (Piper’s Ceilidh)
Sunday, October 18 (can fit in another session on this date)

Any other dates are up for grabs! Please feel free to send along an email if you’re interested!