Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

With heavy smoke in the air late this summer, unusually high temperatures, and crunchy vegetation from the lack of moisture, Southern Alberta was looking like the setting of a post-apocalyptic storyline. Since that is one of my favorite sub-genres of fiction, I jumped at the chance to create something out of it! Jenn loved the concept and immediately organized this amazing outfit for an epic female warrior out in the wastelands to become Morrígna. Once her outfit was finalized, she pooled together her resources (aka her amazing friends) and came up with a whole arsenal of weapons fit for a brutal post-apocalyptic lifestyle. I can hardly believe the crossbow is a children’s toy! (It’s from Europe… they do toys a little differently there!)

Jenn is a fierce, confident woman and was so perfect in this role. She managed to hide how sweet she actually is in real life and came across as someone you don’t want to mess with!

p.s. Jenn did her own makeup too! Here’s some background on why she chose her warrior name.

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It was the perfect combination. I was itching to take a fresh set of pink spring blossom portraits once the flowers came out in Lethbridge. Katie was high up on my list of models I wanted to work with. A friend donated this beautiful summery white dress to my photo collection. The day the flowers suddenly bloomed had no rain and even no wind. How much more perfect could it be?

Katie was fantastic to work with. She understood how crazy I get with these flowers and didn’t question why she needed to stand in a ladder in a tree. :)

The creative pink make-up was done by the talented Erin Kinney, who also did the fishtail braid Katie wore for the first half of our shoot.

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Rachel was in need of some headshots for auditions. We were both available over the Christmas break so it was a perfect time, especially since we could make use of the whole University of Lethbridge while it was still open and hardly anyone was there! Rachel has such great different looks and I wish her luck at her future auditions :)

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This was my third time going out to Tayler’s family acreage in Barnwell to spend an amazing afternoon with her and her adorable pets. This year we focused a little more on the equestrian portraits when Tayler took one of her horses out to the field for some riding action shots. I love seeing her interact with her animals. She already has such a kind personality but the way she interacts with the pets, as well as how sweetly they respond to her, shows how nurturing she truly is. Being such an animal lover myself, I love being around this!

As usual, Tayler rocked her session and is always a natural in front of the camera. She makes my job so easy!

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I started out the U of L grad week with the lovely Michelle who was celebrating her newly acquired degree! Michelle and her family came back to the city for her convocation and University of Lethbridge graduation photos. To avoid being rushed we did her session the night before grad, which I think was a fantastic move as convocation day is so crazy! Her mom and dad (mostly dad) tried their best to embarrass her during the photos but Michelle would have none of that ;) After her cap and gown photos around the university campus, we headed over to Aperture Park for more casual portraits. The rain tried to threaten us but instead we had a beautiful evening!

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I’ve met Megan a couple times while we were modelling together at local fashion shows and have been super interested in getting her in front of my camera. I knew it was time to make this happen when I came across a new location I wanted to shoot at! After having her makeup done by the very talented Ash Makeup Artistry, we headed out for an evening of casual Lethbridge urban portraits.

The city has been doing a fantastic job putting in new architecture with personality and I’m so glad I got to try out all these new spots with such a talented model. Megan is gorgeous and has so much charisma in front of the camera. I think she has a very promising career in modelling!

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