Drumroll Please!

Most men are into sports, and cars, and drinking beer with their buddies. My husband is not most men... although he seldom turns down a good beer. He's into music. A lot of music. Often enough, it's his own music. He's a drummer, and among his most prized possessions is his kit which resides in a makeshift room in our basement. As I type, he's down there now, and I am living the Canadian dream: every move I make gets it's own drumroll.

He's been after me for a long time to take some shots of him playing and these are some testers I took to see how the lighting would work down there in such a small space. Turns out, I think we're going to be able to pull something off. Drumroll please!

Houseguests

I used to think woodpeckers were a rare thing. When I discovered four of them flitting from tree to tree in my backyard one day last July, I was thrilled! When they stayed around long enough for me to get my camera, and huddled close enough for me to get more than one in a shot, I was beside myself. 

What I didn't know is that the symbolic meaning of a woodpecker is oncoming opportunity, using your head so-to-speak, and of the need for creative vision. What better way to seize a creative opportunity than to use these beautiful animals themselves.

 

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo

Every year in Halifax, the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo pays tribute to the militaries and civilian heroes of Canada and our allies around the world. This was my first year attending and I had no idea how much of a treat I was in for!

The focus of the show, of course, was precise military drill and colorful displays of national pride.

You can tell I adore the traditional dress RCMP uniforms. :)

These guys were able to dismantle and reassemble this jeep in a total of about 30 seconds, and then drove it away to prove it was in perfect working condition.

There were tributes to our civilian heroes as well: those in uniform who protect us every single day.

 

Musical numbers put the best of Nova Scotia tradition on display.

including bagpipes

and an amazing fiddle player.

When other countries took the stage, it was just as amazing. The talent and showmanship in the room was unbelievable!

 

 

  


 

The green lines in the next photo? Hula hoops and skipping ropes. Just sayin'.

All in all, it was a fantastic show all around, and I can't believe it took me so long to go! I'll leave you with a closing shot that includes every single performer that night. Thank you to each one for a night I won't soon forget!

Max

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not a baby person. I am very proud that I have managed to make it 33 years without ever having changed a diaper. Give me a pudgy little face and a camera, however, and I'm good to go for a couple of hours... as long as someone else is around with the baby wipes. :)

Meet Max.

Max decided to come into the world a bit early, and ended up having a bit of a rough time with it. A month after, however, before he was even due to have arrived, Max and I had a date. He learned that it's a rough life when you're this darn tiny and everyone wants to coo over you at once. And I learned that photographing a baby is not nearly as easy as one would think.

 

I want to thank Max's parents for trusting me to wet my feet in the world of newborn photography with their son. I learned so much and am very hopeful for the opportunity to do it again soon!

Jason, Keigan, and Taylor

Jason was thirteen years old when I met him.
I've been trying to figure him out ever since.

For much of our teenage years, we were inseparable. He taught me to drive a standard, took me to my first formal dance, babysat me the first time I got drunk, and was the first to really break my heart. He crashed on my couch any number of times when he and various friends drove four hours to show up at my apartment out of the blue, and he called me when his son Keigan was born to tell me he was a daddy.

So when he told me there was a new baby girl, and that Keigan was moving away with his mother this summer, it was important for me to be the one doing the family photo shoot.

Once again, I can proudly say that my friends make beautiful babies!

Keigan's quite a stunner.

And Taylor is absolutely priceless.

Jason will be thirty this year, and it's kind of bizarre to think that he is the same person that I knew back then. We touch base every so often to have a coffee or just to catch up. We laugh (a lot) about the old days, and discuss the latest dramas of being an adult. After all, isn't that what being an adult with the same people you were a kid with is all about?