Melanie and Doug came in from the Crowsnest Pass with their adorable boys Landon and Pearson, and we had quite a stroke of luck… during the photos it was warm and beautiful outside, but just a few hours later a horrible wind storm hit and my area of town was nearly evacuated for risk of fires! I’m very glad they had time in the morning for photos!

The boys did great (thanks to a few breaks where they could frantically run around) and Pearson’s toy truck saved the day in a few photos. It’s great to see brothers get along so well so that I can get them to hug without any fighting :)

Some awesome natural posing :)
Baby GQ, maybe?

More doggie goodness! Precious is another foster dog available through AARCS, and she currently lives in the Crowsnest Pass (I got to hang out with Precious, AND get fed by my mom – double win!). Precious was super mellow and laid back, and although she was a little shy, she was a sucker for hugs and pets. A lot of the foster homes don’t have good cameras, so before my photos the organization had assumed this dog was entirely black since she looked so dark via cell phone photos! People should not miss out on those cute spotted feet she has…

In other good news, these photos really do help the dogs immensely: Elvis had no inquiries before her photo shoot, but within half a month of making her a model, she’s been adopted! Yay!

Here is another adorable dog who is available through the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society. Piper is a curious puppy and was fun to take photos of – she wasn’t quite as hyper as most puppies are, so instead of running around, the only difficulty was in getting her to stop sniffing things and pay attention to us :) And she was so cuddly!

Ammena Dance Company’s “An Explosion of World Dance and Music” 2012 will be taking place on Saturday March 3rd at the Yates Memorial Centre in Lethbridge. This year’s show is just as diverse as the last, featuring bellydance, samba, Bollywood, burlesque, and an awesome tango piece. For once I am doing a proper bellydance as my solo this year… but that’s just too boring, so I picked some Lady Gaga to do it to!

Tickets will be on sale soon and they always sell out before the night of the show, so make sure you pick yours up early!

Since the tango piece is our big number this year, we went with that as the theme for the poster. Lise-Anne was a fabulous model as always, and like last year, couldn’t blink the whole time because of the extravagant eyelashes Jen gave her :)

Model, Wardrobe: Ammena Talhami
Makeup Artist and Hair: Jennifer Murray
Concept: Tanya Plonka

Please note: As usual, due to my heavy involvement in this show, I will be taking very limited sessions between now and mid-March. If you would like to book a session in that time, please contact me at info@tanyaplonka.com for availability, or I can schedule you in for April and beyond. I am still able to meet up for any wedding consults during this time, so don’t hesitate to ask if you would like to find out more about wedding collections for 2012!

Sharon and Chet got all of their grandchildren together for a family photo session just before Christmas. The kids were all adorable and I loved the color scheme they chose, which happened to work so well with our location! Even though two of the girls were sick at the time, they did great and held out long enough for the photos we needed :)

I am so excited to be volunteering with the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society. Showing off how cute the animals are plays a huge role in helping them get adopted, so I will now be visiting these dogs in their foster homes to take their photos!

Today I got to meet Elvis (or “Ellie”), and she was a total sweetheart who was full of energy. If you’re looking for a dog… *hint hint*