Currently Cirque du Soleil is in Edmonton presenting Amaluna under the Big Top at Northlands Park. Unfortunately we aren’t going to have the opportunity to take in the show, so when I heard that some of the Amaluna performers were going to be at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton over lunch hour a week ago Wednesday I thought that it might be neat to go down there and check it out. I didn’t know what to expect when I got there, but I figured that since it was a beautiful day that I had nothing to lose by going there. So I grabbed my new Nikon D7100 camera (a chance to try it out a little more) and a couple of lenses and headed down to Churchill Square. For those people who know me, most would be surprised that I was heading out to photograph people since that is something that I rarely do. When I got there just after 12 noon the costumed performers were already there, about eight or nine in total, wandering around interacting with the people who had gathered in the square. I was a little disappointed at first, as they really weren’t doing much performing; they were more mingling with the crowd and posing for pictures with people. But it still was quite interesting and allowed for a lot of photographic opportunities. I was a little tentative at first but quickly got into it and was snapping pictures like crazy. I had lots of fun and it was great to do some photography that was outside of my normal photographic comfort zone. Mark

Performer 5 ©Mark Degner

Performer 9 ©Mark Degner

Performer 4 ©Mark Degner

Performer 3 ©Mark Degner

Performer 7 ©Mark Degner

Performer 2 ©Mark Degner

Performer 6 ©Mark Degner

Performer 8 ©Mark Degner

Performer 1 ©Mark Degner