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!

Jan and I can never seem to get our schedules to match anymore, so it’s always a treat on the rare occasions we can work together! I was able to second shoot for her at Seth and Ashley’s wedding, out on his family’s farm near Vauxhall. I started out when the guys were getting ready (Jan was out with the girls), then Jan posed everyone while I crept around and took paparazzi photos :)

The guys couldn’t figure out how to fold these and relied heavily on the included instructions. In the end, a single groomsman had to do all of them.

The ring bearer had a bit of a meltdown for the wedding. His younger brother had to stand in for him in the processional.

While Jan focused on the “important” stuff, I was watching the little kids, who kept eating the Skittles on the signing table and running through the bushes :)

The girls quietly tried to encourage the kids to come back out to the front.

Ashley’s dad feigned anger at us that we kept making him remove his sunglasses. He’s 18, he makes his own decisions! :)

Major pout!

Skittles, last minute addition to the bridal party, and a trampoline. Best day ever!

Makeshift lens hood!

Well-timed pelicans…

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!

Daniel Wesley opened the show.

Though I’m sad While We Were Hunting Rabbits was omitted from this stop, the set list was great… and I saw that song played in Calgary the week before :)

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 :)

A parody of Cirque

The premise of the tight rope walkers were that they were the ring leader’s college buddies who used to get drunk and do stupid things.

It’s been a busy season so I’m two months behind on posting this, but better late than never, right?

I had a great time at Photoshop World again and learned many things which I have since forgotten (good thing I took notes!).

On my first day, I went on the Photo Safari with Joe McNally and Moose Peterson. I am lucky I signed up for it when I did because it was sold out several days later! This event is always popular because you get to spend an entire day shooting with these two very influential, talented photographers. They show you how they light scenes, interact with subjects, and see things the way they do. This year the field trip was to Bonnie Springs Ranch, which is a tourist attraction just half an hour outside of Las Vegas. The employees/actors who work at the ranch were our models, and they were great to work with.

We were on Moose’s bus. He taught us things and answered questions on the way there.

Our bus passed epic clouds and landscapes, but when we arrived at the ranch there was not a cloud in sight :(

Can’t get the wedding photographer out of me!

I introduce… Noir Peacock.

The cigarette was real. The peacock found it on the ground and was pretty happy to feed its addiction.

Just after the sun set, we headed onto the nearby hill for another lighting demo.

I was a little late getting to the burro and it snubbed me and walked away, but I managed to get one photo!

There are many interesting pokey things out there. I had cactus spines stuck in my sneakers for a few weeks after :)

I made some bus buddies, and we became known by our locations or quirks:
Chicago, Just Tony/Tardy, OP, Fisheye, Canada

After scrubbing off lots of desert dust and getting minimal sleep, it was time to start Photoshop World!

Joe McNally’s live lighting demo

RC points at some random thing (I think he just talks with his hands like I do!)

They went all out for the shooting areas again. Such amazing body paint! The man in the middle is the one who conceptualized this look.

It’s always a treat to run into Jeff Revell, though he was looking a bit like a cyclops.

This year I brought Cam along and we took a few extra days for vacation… plus I made him model for me a few times :)

Excellent view :)

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! :)