Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

One last blog for the evening!

New Years was really special this year because our good friend Andrew Scott was down for a few weeks from Japan. Since he’s been teaching English there, we barely get to see him anymore, and we (or at least I) really miss his crass sense of humor. I am huuugely looking forward to shooting his wedding with Julie this July, but it seems so far away! (I can’t imagine what it’s like for Julie being apart for so long!)

On New Years Eve, he got the boys from the Turncoats back together for an awesome gig at the Slice that sold out several days prior (that hardly ever happens here). Everyone was up front, singing along, like the past year and an ocean hadn’t kept all us fans away from the band.

Opening were the Smokin’ Pistols

Then the lovely Shaela Miller

And the Turncoats!

Paul singing “Roxanne” (Police)… and Paul never sings. It was fantastic!

(You can view more of these at my other site)

Andrew had a really busy week recording, playing, and spending time with family (and Julie), and sadly I am always very busy too, so only caught one of his solo shows in that time… However, I am grateful for that extra time with him, because not everyone was so lucky! (Poor Dino was out of town on a gig and only really saw Andrew the one day). This solo show was at Mocha Cabana, a small coffee house / cafe I love going to downtown. It was a really quiet show and had a nice vibe. Andrew was there more as “background music” but a few of us came specifically to hear him play, and helped him out with “If I Had A Million Dollars,” which he hadn’t really played before but took by request.

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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Here’s another of Lana… but with her face :)

The poster for this year’s Explosion of World Dance and Music, hosted by Ammena Dance Company, is done! If you haven’t been to this show the last two years, the focus is on belly dancing but there is an eclectic mix of many different dance styles, and even a few musical acts.

Tickets for the show go on sale tomorrow! If you are interested in going, buy your ticket early because they sell out quickly.

I’m going to be dancing on one of those drums shown in the poster, oh boy. I’m also putting up a couple other designs I made that we aren’t using, as well as some shots I took of Lana, all after the cut…

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I am in the middle of a few projects and have been itching to make a blog post, so here are a few teasers of the design projects I have been working on…

An Explosion of World Dance and Music 2009 takes place on March 14, and tickets go on sale February 1…

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I had a great time taking pictures of Texas Flood, not only because Dino is in the band now… and not only because Paul brought some extra lights to spruce up Slice’s otherwise drab lighting… but mostly because they are such a fun band to watch, and Paul makes the best “guitar faces.” (okay, the lights and Dino help out a lot :P ) Shawna and Karen were a delightful addition on the few songs they sang for too!

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