Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

Michelle caught me just in time! Only an hour before I left for a Christmas vacation, I met up with her, her husband Dion, and their kids Steph and Derrick for a much anticipated family session. Both kids are grown up and have moved away, so getting them all together again for Christmas was a big deal for the family. They were so much fun and so easy to make laugh, and luckily the morning wasn’t as cold as some had been (though I did almost fall through snowbanks several times, so it’s a good thing I don’t weigh too much or I may have gotten lost in the snow!).

I hope you guys had a great Christmas together again! (more…)

I had a great time this afternoon with these girls! Tanya (not me) is getting married next summer, but because she’s having a small wedding, she’s not able to incorporate all her best girlfriends into the wedding as a bridal party. Instead she choose to do a “bridesmaid” photo session with all the girls in its place! Tanya met her fiancée Elliot at The Slice when his band was playing, so this was the perfect spot to do some photos celebrating the upcoming wedding and her relationship with all her friends. A lot of these girls are rockers and are in relationships with rockers, so they brought a few vehicles full of instruments along as props.

A super huge thanks to Jesse at Slice for letting us in a bit before opening to make this happen! Go eat their pizza :) (more…)

I am veeeeery late on editing and posting these, but thrilled to finally get them up here. Back in September I alluded to working with a Utah photographer who could easily be David Bowie’s lovechild (everywhere he went, anyone who met him would exclaim how much he looked like Bowie, which I imagine gets pretty tiring after a while!). Adam met up with me for a fashion shoot in the lobby/bar at THEhotel in Las Vegas, and we got a solid 35 minutes in before security put a stop to it. Considering I’ve been told to move at least every 10 minutes to prevent that from happening, I think we fared pretty well!

THEhotel is gorgeous and when I first saw it a few years ago I instantly wanted to work with a model in there. Adam was a perfect (and very dapper) match. I was hoping to likewise model for him, but we ran out of time. Hopefully at next year’s Photoshop World! (more…)

Roy received his Masters from the University of Lethbridge this weekend, and I met up with him and his lovely family just after the convocation to capture some photos to celebrate this huge accomplishment! His wife and girls were so sweet, and you could instantly tell how supportive they have been of him finishing his degree. Roy has definitely chosen the right career path for him and I wish him and his family all the best :)

p.s. Though intrigued by my zombie photos, Roy was not brave enough to do a zombie convocation session. Darn! (more…)

I’ve done tons of photos of Sarah with her horses before, but usually with her in a dress! She finally wanted some “normal” photos, so we set out with her tall horse Santana to get a few images of her riding him just before sunset. It was probably one of the last few “warm” evenings of the year and we were especially fortunate to chose the night that had the most gorgeous sunset all week! We did quite a few regular riding photos, but I had the most fun when I spun her around and pointed my camera into the lowering sun. (more…)

I had the honor of having my photography in the latest issue of the Allied Arts Council’s Artsbridge Magazine, which is published biannually. Their main theme in this issue was the relationship between arts and the environment, and I was also asked to photo illustrate a couple of the stories within the magazine. My photo of Marie is across the front and back cover, with two photos of Starsha within. It was so much fun photographing for Artsbridge and I’m so thankful to have been given the chance :)

You can pick up a free copy at the Allied Arts Council office located at 318 7 Street South in downtown Lethbridge. (more…)