Erin, Blair, and baby Adora came into Lethbridge for some photos today, and we had a beautiful sunny morning to work with! Even though Adora doesn’t like to smile a ton, we got some great ones bursting out when we went to her aunty’s house for more photos. What a cutie!

I’m always happy when I get to see Sophia again, and this time she’s just a much bigger version of the Sophia I saw last year! I went to the Crowsnest Pass this last week to capture some photos of her just a few weeks after she turned three, and we hung out in downtown Coleman. It’s been so awesome seeing her grow up, especially now that she can have conversations and is an even bigger ham in front of the camera.

She’s definitely my new little buddy; she wanted me to come for slurpees after the session, kept insisting on riding with me instead of her mom, and had been talking about me for a few hours before we even did the photos!

Happy birthday, Sophia! (p.s. Her mommy designed an awesome zebra print cake for her birthday party. That’s definitely in my good books.)

Last year Laura frantically blew bubbles out of the bottle. This year she came prepared with a bubble machine!

I had to stand with my legs in a V-position here so I wouldn’t fall down the stairs, and she thought it was funny to break her pose to keep running between my legs :)

Today’s blog will be something a little different. Earlier this week I photographed my co-worker Lori and her son Luka, catching the tail-end of the autumn colors here in Lethbridge. Since Lori is a writer, she asked if she could write a guest blog, and I couldn’t resist! (I’m also glad I don’t have to write it because my finger is bandaged from a cut and it is very difficult to type properly!)

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It’s not Black and White
Lori Lavallee

It’s been almost a year since Zebra-Girl joined our workspace and over that time I’ve seen a lot of her photography.

Although I’m no expert, I think there’s a lot of portrait photographers out there striving to capture the “perfect moment,” relying on formulaic poses to convey scripted meanings for whatever the occasion. Tanya’s images are markedly different.

Part of it may be that she works primarily with natural light. But there’s another element that I’ve often wondered about: How is it that her images seem to evoke such truths? Are all her clients super special or does she work some kind of magic behind the scenes, and if so, how?

This past week my son and I had the opportunity to be in front of her camera, which also provided me with a chance to observe her behind it. Although I don’t want to give away all of her secrets, I’ve taken the liberty of mentioning a couple of her techniques in my photo comments :)

As you’d expect, I looked forward to seeing the results, full of anticipation, anxious to see whether Tanya had been able to capture our feelings and communicate our essences in her images.

I hoped that she would see the deep love I have for my son; that she’d understand the joy we experience together; and that, through her photography, she’d take a few moments to celebrate his childhood, his personhood with me.

The unveil was this morning. The result? Beautiful images of a childhood; my heart filled with gratitude for Tanya and her artistry.

Capturing “truth” is as much about hearing as it is seeing. “Try sitting here, any way you want,” Tanya says. Side-by-side Luka anchors one foot on me, as he always does. “This is us; who we are,” I start to explain . . . and she’s already taken the picture.

Talking nonsense. Tanya works quietly “behind the scenes,” observing real interactions; we welcome her presence, camera or not.

Tanya has been dubbed the “Human Tripod” by our coworker, Michael Warf. That’s how she gets these kind of shots, by doing a modified version of the limbo.

What about props? “You don’t need anything, really,” Tanya says. But, since we’re going for a stroll in the woods, we decide to bring a few things. She works our things into great shots like this!

What a lot of people might not know about Tanya-the-photographer is that she could use a third eye! Rather than closing one eye while looking through the viewfinder, she keeps both eyes open in case she misses something. Quirky? Yes, but never anonymous.

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Here are a few of my favorites from the day as well :)

The winter weather finally cleared up (hopefully for more than a few days!) so my day was filled with a bunch of “autumn colors” photos… even though there aren’t many autumn colors out there after the trees had the snow shock hit them! (Luckily I can fake it a bit, hehe).

The first shoot of the day was with Paula and Dean, and their two cuties Mackenzie and Kahlan. These girls were adorable little models and excellent at posing – until we got distracted by all the crunchy leaves! I hope you all had fun playing in the leaves with me :)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of shooting this fun family from Fort MacLeod down in Indian Battle Park. I had a fantastic time as the weather was gorgeous and they were so nice (and easy to make laugh!). They may not have believed me at the time that doing silly things like staring at each other with faces really close would look “magical,” but I’m glad they played along :)

I finally got to meet little Eva! I am photographing her mom and dad’s wedding this July and over the last few months I have heard lots about her… and she is such a sweet baby! She was pretty patient with us even though it was so hot and modeling can be quite tiring. Eventually she let us know she was done, and totally zonked out for the last few photos :)

I will be seeing Chris, Alisa, and Eva again very soon!

I love her room! They did such a great job with it.

It looks uncomfortable, but it’s Eva’s favorite place to be! When she started crying, this is all that would calm her down :)

At this point it was hot, and she was not pleased with us ;)

We finished up the shoot in grandma and grandpa’s backyard.

Nap time!