Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

Jeremy contacted me with a top-secret plan: to surprise his girlfriend Phoebe with a sunset photography session at the location where they first met each other several months earlier. After much plotting, we decided he would make fake dinner plans with her that required her to dress nice and arrive in time for their “reservation,” while he arranged a bit of a detour to come meet me at the bridge. He did a fantastic job of keeping the secret, and she didn’t know what was going on until their car pulled up next to mine and he explained it to her!

I had a fantastic time working with the two of them (despite Jeremy’s bleeding “injury” on his ear) and we picked a perfect evening for the session. Phoebe especially had a fantastic smile the whole evening from the shock of the surprise! (more…)

One of the highlights of my year for the past few years has been going to the annual WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) Convention in Las Vegas, and this year was no exception. The morning after my big dance show I drove out to Montana (cheap flights!) then flew to Vegas, only to go to the convention the next morning at 7am! It was four days of intense classes and a killer tradeshow with few breaks, and I learned so much and came home with a notebook full of ideas. This was definitely the most informative year for me; finally, I was focused! Now onto the photos and stories… (more…)

On September 5th the city commemorated the centennial anniversary of our famous high level bridge by shining a bunch of bright lights on it. Though in person it was a bit of a disappointment, it gave every photographer in town an awesome subject :)

More after the jump…
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Two weeks ago I attended my very first Photoshop World, which was held in Boston MA. I was joined by co-worker and fellow photographer Michael Warf, and we had a phenomenal time! I learnt a huge amount at the convention, and our after hours shooting filled my portfolio with some wonderful things.

Naturally, on the slideshow above I had to pay homage to one of my all time favorite bands, the band who “saved” me from pop music, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Secretly I wished terribly to run into at least one member of the band while there… but sadly I don’t think they hang around Photoshop conventions!

Click below to go on to the photos!
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Here is a quick peak at the shoots I did while in Boston!

I have not taken a self-portrait I have been happy with in years, which has been nagging at me since it is ALL I used to do. My last night in the hotel proved to be productive!

How could I NOT use the most cliched song for this? ;)

I figured it would be a good idea to blog about WPPI 2009 in Las Vegas before I run off to Photoshop World in Boston next week!

This is a longer entry, so there are more after the cut!
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