Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Edwin definitely gave me and his parents our exercise at this photoshoot! I hadn’t seen his parents since their wedding a few years ago, so while they were visiting family they scheduled some time for this very energetic family photography session in the river bottom.

In typical toddler fashion, Edwin thought it was way more fun to do anything but sit in photos. That meant our session involved lots of running, swinging, and hanging upside down! He had a blast with everything we threw his way and laughed through the whole photoshoot :)

It wasn’t fair that only one grandparent got to have photos with adorable twins Iker and Enara! Just a few months after our first session, they got to see me again for their twins spring family photos with their grandma and grandpa. It was kind of shocking to see how much more grown up the twins got in that short amount of time!

This time around their parents also joined in plus the twins were a little more accepting of the whole posing business I was asking of them. We ended up with all kinds of cute combinations of family groups plus lots of action shots (because being thrown in the air is SO much fun).

I love catching up with my wedding couples after their families grow! I got to meet Heather and Dan’s adorable boys for their Lethbridge river bottom fall photos. The brothers have such a blast together and were just as happy racing each other as they were cuddling in close for photo poses. Since the boys are a little older and could handle the walking, we started by the Helen Schuler Nature Centre and made our way south throughout the river bottom to hit all the best spots.

You don’t need to go far for photos when you have this in your front yard! Larry and Deb made use of their classic pickup truck as a feature piece in their Lethbridge acreage fall photos. Both of their sons’ families came to visit for the family session and after a few bad weather reschedules, we ended up with a beautiful warm morning at the end of October!

Their acreage provided ample opportunities for posed and action photos, with lots of fun things for their grandsons to climb on (the best of which was obviously the trampoline where they could show off their acrobatic skills). These two cousins have such a great time together that I would have guessed they were brothers if I hadn’t been told!

Children’s sized kimonos get twice as cute when it is for twins! Lear and Noah’s family came to visit Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge for their Shi Chi Go San photos just before the garden closed for the autumn season.

From Britannica:

Shichi-go-san, (Japanese: “Seven-Five-Three”), one of the most important festivals for Japanese children, observed annually on November 15. On this date girls of three and seven years of age and boys of five years of age are taken by their parents to the Shinto shrine of their tutelary deity to offer thanks for having reached their respective ages and to invoke blessings for the future.

The boys had gorgeous nearly matching kimonos and especially loved the ceremonial swords they got to carry. Nikka Yuko was such a perfect location for this and we caught the early fall colours in the garden.

There is way too much cute in this photoshoot! Charlie never stopped grinning during his Crowsnest Pass autumn family photos. He loved giving his dog Riley hugs, being swung around by his parents, and playing with his grandpa and grandma in the forest along the Miner’s Path in Coleman.

We hiked along the path towards the creek and bridge, finding Charlie lots of rocks and logs to climb on. His grandparents were so great for encouraging him along his adventures. It probably felt more like a one hour play time than a photoshoot to him!