Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

I recently attended the reception for Tracing the Elusive Past of the Chinarians, featuring works from the collection of Lana Gabor, and highly recommend you go check it out at the Helen Christou Gallery! I used to dance with Lana when she lived in Lethbridge, so I was excited to hear she was coming back from Vancouver for her show opening at the University of Lethbridge. She performed one dance piece for the opening, showing off her amazing talent :) (more…)

This was possibly the best Lethbridge show this year! The Geomatic Attic brought in the super talented Hawksley Workman to Lethbridge this November and due to popular demand, the show was upgraded to Southminster United Church. It was the perfect venue for his stripped down show, which featured him on guitar and Mr. Lonely on piano and no other band members. He told hilarious stories in between songs, and drew out the show and over-sang because of how great the audio was in that space. His performance was stunning and sounded just perfect. He was so expressive that I couldn’t help but take a few photos! (more…)

I haven’t had a lot of time for seeing bands lately, but when I heard about a concert happening at this venue I just had to go. I’ve also fallen into a rut of only going out to see bands I already know, but I hadn’t heard much of either Cold Specks or the Great Lake Swimmers before, and thought an early evening spring concert in an old church was the best environment for some musical experimentation!

The show was put on by Geomatic Attic and hosted in the Southminster United Church, which had such beautiful acoustics. Both bands gave powerful but mellow performances, though I felt Cold Specks stole the show. Though soft-spoken while making small talk, her voice filled the church when she sang. She performed her last song without guitar and without a microphone and it resonated throughout the entire space. Goosebumps! (more…)

It’s been a few years since Matthew Good played in Lethbridge, so it was a treat to finally have him back. I’m a little biased in my opinion of the show because he’s been my favorite musician for half my life, but I’m sure there were a few other people who agreed with me seeing as how it was sold out ;)

I was able to catch one of his shows at Jack Singer Hall in Calgary the week before and was excited to be able to photograph his bar gig here in Lethbridge after seeing that. Luckily the gorgeous light show they had set up translated pretty well to the smaller stage. The performance was amazing (one of his best I’ve seen), and we all cheered when he chastised a few guys who started a fight. Definitely one of my top shows of the year! (more…)

Vegas shows usually have a no photography rule, but Absinthe encouraged it! This relatively new show in a circus-esque area outside of Caesar’s Palace is described as Cirque du Soleil’s younger punk brother, which was the perfect description of it. It takes the impressive acrobatic nature of Cirque and throws in raunchy humor (including making fun of Cirque) with a super intimate environment. The stage is only about 10 feet wide with seating for 200 in the theatre, so no matter where you are, you are up close and personal. If these performers were to mess up, you’d get a roller skate in the face. We didn’t splurge for the VIP tickets and still managed to get the second row, which was almost but not quite as terrifying as the first row.

The performers were all amazing and I think I watched half the show with my jaw hanging open. (The other half was spent wiping away tears of laughter.) If you’re easily offended, the humor in the show may not be appropriate for you, and if you don’t want to be picked on, sit a little further back :) (more…)

Amazing! Amazing! It’s hard to write much else about this show. After a much too long hiatus, Big Sugar got back together and this is very dear to my heart since they were the second 18+ show I ever went to (my friend and I had to skip some classes in high school the next morning to do this). Gordie Johnson is also now a member of Wide Mouth Mason so they came along as well, and that’s exciting since they are one of my top bands. Shaun is one of my favorite singers – ever – and I never cease to be amazed at his guitar playing gush gush gush, etc. though that’s some tough competition when you are sharing the stage with Gordie.

This show went on for several epic hours and I’m so glad I got to be up front, showered by Gordie’s spit as he sang! :) (more…)