Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

A couple months ago Cassandra came to me with a fantastic jungle gym she had found. You know how they are making all the playgrounds “safer” these days by ripping out the fun wooden ones and replacing them with “soft” plastic? Well, this one somehow made it through the approval process despite that!

Because of the cold weather we hadn’t been able to use it for a shoot until now, and even so we ended up with numb hands and barely finished before the local wind warning that evening kicked in!

Cassandra used to be a gymnast when she was younger, so she was the perfect model for this shoot. (more…)

As you can see, I am still catching up on a few things! Back in December the JPS Trio invited all their fans out to Henotic to take part in the filming of their first music video, done by the multi-talented Dan Berdusco of Lethbridge Link. The cameras stayed rolling all night while the crowd danced to to the band’s energetic set of originals and a few funky covers. The band is hoping to get this video onto MuchMusic, so wish them luck! (more…)

I’m happy I can finally post these now that their mom has seen them! Just before Christmas Pam, Jamie, Stephanie, and Robyn got together for a photo shoot to surprise their mom with. I had an awesome time with these girls, especially because I used to taiko drum with Pam and her mom (back when I had more spare time!), and took a few drama classes with Jamie in university, so it was nice to see everyone again! These girls were a riot and it was so easy to get the most genuine bursts of laughter from them. Since it was pretty cold outside, like every day lately, we did the photos inside Lethbridge’s gorgeous Galt Museum before braving another couple minutes of photography outside in Galt Gardens. (more…)

This afternoon I met such a sweet family! Amy, Tarek, little Zak, and big fuzzy Captain are expecting baby #2 next month and invited me over to take photos of their family just before the new addition comes. Amy and Tarek are a darling couple, Zak is adorable and full of energy, and of course I loved Captain because I loooooove big dogs! Needless to say, I had a great time! (more…)

Today I photographed an absolutely adorable couple, Andrew and Alex, who have just come to Lethbridge to go to college. This photo shoot was his Christmas gift to her, which is such a sweet idea :) Their smiles were both so radiant, especially when they looked at each other.

Since it’s pretty chilly outside still, we shot in the lobby at the new Coast Hotel, which is absolutely gorgeous! It’s going to be hard not to overuse it this year but I will try my best to control myself ;) (more…)

This Halloween, Andrew Suderman was gracious enough to let me second-shoot for him for this really unique wedding! Doug and Kristine combined the chilly autumn weather with some excellent Halloween elements, which was right up my alley :)

I had Andrew assist me earlier this year, so it was cool to switch the roles. He’s a super awesome up and coming photographer in town, so make sure you check out his Flickr page!

Doug and Kris started with a “regular” wedding (well, regular but with Halloween decorations) in the German Canadian Club, and then we went outside for family photos. Unfortunately the wind was a chilly 80km/hr that day, so we weren’t able to stay outside for very long! Andrew set up his lights inside, so I wandered around capturing all the neat little details they had arranged in the hall.

After the lunch reception (they had an early wedding), we drove out to Stirling to go to the renown Haunted House! We were instructed that we could take photos inside, as long as they looked “creepy.” I am so glad Andrew had a flashlight in his gear bag so we could focus our cameras on them! And I have to admit, I was a very bad second shooter and totally hijacked that portion of the shoot! ;)

Their second, evening reception saw all the guests return in Halloween costumes. So much fun! (more…)