Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Last week I had the priviledge of attending DrupalCon Chicago, a nearly week long conference dedicated to my favorite CMS, Drupal (it’s what I use the most to build websites, and since I’ve only been using it for a little over two years I still have a ton to learn). I went with U of L web guys Trevor and Wesley. I have a lot of photos I want to post, so I’ll be breaking this into three blogs over the next few days. (more…)

Each time I go to Disneyland, I intend to blog my favorite photos but never get around to it… well, no more! This time around it was a challenge to find photos of things I have never taken there before, and with a few new Christmas elements and special touches around the park (along with some inclement weather), the task was much easier than I expected! Even though it rained quite a bit, it was nice to get away from the snow for a week and have a break :) (more…)

Photoshop World 2010 in Vegas was even more fun than the Boston one! A few of us from The University of Lethbridge, including Michael Warf, ventured down to Sin City this last week to learn about Photoshop, design, and photography, as well as to do some crazy networking. I averaged around 5 hours of sleep each night, but isn’t that what you are supposed to do in Vegas?

Like last year, pardon the bad point and shoot camera photos. I had to throw a few of the not-very-in-focus ones in just because that’s all I had. Speaking of which, my little Sony is 6 years old now. Does anyone recommend a good, small camera I should get to replace it?

We stayed at THEhotel, since Mandalay Bay had no more openings by the time we made our reservations. Lucky for us! THEhotel was stunning, and easily the nicest place I have ever stayed. It was hard to leave. If it had a kitchen, I would have been just fine living there forever!

Lotsa photos!! (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…)

It took some planning and a crew of people to get the artistic vision perfect, and I was happy with the results of turning Cassandra into her own version of Blind Mag from the movie Repo. This is a bizarre, wonderful dark rock opera, so if you’re into quirky things like that, be sure to check it out! I was hoping to do some evening light painting with this shoot, but the temperature dropped quite considerably and our fingers went pretty numb, so we stuck primarily with strobes.

Sara (who is new to the photo scene; check out her link below!) was a huge help with moving my lights around and manning the flashlight so I could get the focus right, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. This was also the first shoot I had Bonnie do makeup for, and I hope there will be many more because that girl is talented! And if the zombie makeup is any indication of what those two can do, you shouldn’t be too surprised with this costume.

The talented cast…
Hair: Cayley Moncrieff, Chatters @ Park Place
Makeup: Bonnie Ferguson
Assistant: Sara Giséle
Costume: Cassandra Pollock & Jeremy Nordstrom

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On Sunday I joined a few photographer friends to go to Calgary to go to [b]ecker‘s workshop at the U of C. We spent the entire day listening to his thoughts on all aspects of what he does – working with clients, how he runs his business, how he manages his photos, and how he has built his image/brand. The day was worth tenfold what we were charged to be there; I came out with so many great ideas and totally inspired! I’m so glad I was able to go to this.

p.s. The cowboy hat was a gift from the organizer to welcome him to Calgary :)

Onto the photos! (more…)