Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

These photos are going a ways back… and by that I mean they were taken in February! I’ve been in bed this week with pneumonia, and just couldn’t wait until the wedding this weekend to post photos, but since going and shooting for fun this week wasn’t an option, I’m starting to dig through personal photos I’ve been neglecting.

This show was at Slice, and local goodies Bears in Human Suits opened up, followed by The Luna Riot. The Luna Riot is one of many bands my friend Patrick (the bass player, in this case) has been in, and it’s always a treat having him come up from Vancouver to play here.

Excuse the graininess :)

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I managed to find a bit of time in between all my dance practices to go through a few of my photos from Las Vegas in February, and the easiest to start with was Alan Thompson Jr.

(I used one of his recordings for the music on the slideshow.)

Alan used to play piano at Disneyland; hopefully if you visited the park during the three years he worked there, you had a chance to hear him on Main Street, because he was (in my opinion, at least) the best piano player they ever had! He was always able to attract a huge crowd with his playing, and even though he doesn’t work there, he is still legendary… guests are always asking the current piano players if he still plays there!

It’s been over a year since I heard him play in person (FAR too long), but I at least was able to visit with him on my trip. He made two day trips from California to Las Vegas, a nice little bookend to the WPPI convention!

He’s one of those people who doesn’t like having his photo taken, so I ended up with a lot of silly poses that “better not end up on the internet” (I guess they’re just for my own photo album), so I later on got stealthy and tried shooting him when he wasn’t paying attention. Am I a bad person for coercing people against their will into photoshoots? ;)

If you want to check out his mad playing skills, just search for “Alan Thompson piano” on YouTube! My favorite is Grim Grinning Ghosts; I taped that back when I hardly knew the guy. I’m just sorry it was taped from my lousy point and shoot that I still want to drive over… but it got the job done.

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On Sunday I got to partake in one of the most exciting shoots I’ve ever done! A group of photographers made up of Lethbridge folk and Calgary Strobists got together with the U of L swimming team, a group of models, a fashion designer (Caitlin Power), a makeup artist, and a scuba diver (Chris) for what can only be described as epic. Michael Warf, Kevin Logan, Cody Belter, and I split off to do head shots of the swimmers while the other photogs set up for the fashion shoot, and then we all headed to the dive take window to take part. All the models and swim team must really be commended for the great work they did… their jobs were not easy!

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1. I couldn’t be with the Johnpaul Smith Band this weekend in Banff due to photoshoots and my day job, and
2. I have a moment of free time to catch up on the last of my personal photos from 2008 (sorry Kelsey, yours are soon!), so…

Here are photos of the Johnpaul Smith Band back on January 30th at Slice!

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Today I had the pleasure of shooting a local actor for some personal photos to “commemorate” his long hair. Colin obviously has been growing his hair out for a while and tomorrow he is cutting it all off for an audition tape. As someone with long hair, I understand what a big deal this is. (In grade one I decided to cut it really short – but never again!)

He was such a natural in front of the camera – this surely speaks well of his acting :P

Keep an eye out for him… you might see him in big movies one day soon! Good luck with your audition, Colin!

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When I picked up Disney’s weekend schedule my first weekend there, I literally shrieked when I read who would be playing in Tomorrowland, because after all these years I am still a huge fan girl, no matter how much I tried to deny it…

I first saw Suburban Legends in 2002, and again in 2003, so it’s been a loooong five years for me (they never tour in Canada). As soon as I saw them they became one of my favorite bands. Since then the lineup has gone through HUGE changes. First trombone player Dallas was killed in a hit and run, then old band members flocked out. Vince returned as their singer (he was formerly one of their trumpet players), and when I checked them out on MySpace I was disappointed; the ska was gone, and now they were silly funk. I understood ska is just not a big thing right now, but oh it broke my heart. I wasn’t happy with the new music I was hearing on MySpace.

After seeing them live, I have totally changed my mind, and they are still one of my favorite bands. They are the most energetic, entertaining live band I have ever seen. Their music has gotten so much tighter since I last saw them, and every new band member is a huge asset (there are only 4/8 of the members from when I saw them). And they still have dance choreography! They get the crowd involved through the entire thing (singing and dancing competitions) and when the crowd’s energy starts to wane at the end of the night, they work their butts off to bring it back up (which most bands don’t bother with).

I couldn’t pull myself away from their engaging show and went all three nights to all five sets, phew! (Even enduring a lady who thinks Canada is communist?! -She thinks we are a terrifying socialist country, but by socialist really meant communist, and no we aren’t even socialist, haha!)

They played nearly every song they have ever written. This meant they still do all the ska songs! I was wondering what it would be like with Tim no longer on vocals, but Vince totally nailed it and then some. Sadly there were only several of us there skanking, but my heart was content.

I want mooooooore. They are touring with the Aquabats (!!!) but not here. We DO like ska here, guys :(

Check them out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suburbanlegends

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