Cody contacted me all the way from the US to plan out his Waterton winter surprise proposal to his girlfriend Makenzie, and this was a situation where she wouldn’t even know they were getting photos taken!
We lucked out with their anniversary trip falling right after the cold snap so he could justify taking her on a scenic walk. We did, however, run into a few snags with our plan! I arrived to find the location I gave him closed to vehicle traffic, requiring a bit of a hike through very deep snow up the Prince of Wales road. Once I was ready, I received word from Cody that they had gotten “stuck” at a restaurant and he was trying to rush them out without raising any suspicions. He gave me regular updates when he went to “wash his hands” in the restroom!
Not having met them, I had to guess who they were without staring. It didn’t help that two other couples came by around when I expected Cody and Makenzie to arrive! I didn’t expect it to be so busy there with the road being closed! One of the couples was even stopping to take cell phone photos like Cody and I had worked out in our plan.
Finally the right people arrived. I did such a good job pretending to be a landscape photographer that Makenzie was worried they would get in my way and wreck the photo I was taking! Once he proposed and pointed me out, I didn’t have to be so awkward ;)
They were both so happy after the big question that it made the rest of the photos a breeze! They followed me around the town of Waterton to the best locations, and had a truly memorable engagement story :)
This year the YWCA Lethbridge & District put on another amazing Women of Distinction Awards dinner on International Women’s Day. It was an honour to get to photograph the event again, especially with the introduction of the new Truth and Reconciliation and Lifetime Achievement Awards. This year we had less of a time crunch so I was able to meet all of the winners beforehand for their promotional photos so the event itself was a little less stressful for them!
This year’s event was held at The Coast Hotel which gave the organizers space to use multiple rooms for a VIP event before the main awards.
Judy and Charlie planned out this beautiful photo session with the help of their daughters. It was so great that the kids could have Lethbridge fall photos with their grandparents before any of them started graduating high school. The cousins had such a perfect close age range that they could be friends and drive each other crazy at the same time (though the crazy part was usually in the sibling pairs).
I was continually surprised how much colour I kept finding in the river bottom into the end of October that year! Judy had requested a log she liked in the river bottom, but since we couldn’t pinpoint where it was, I chose the most log-rich area in Indian Battle Park.
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.
Baby Adaline arrived less than a month after her parents’ maternity session, and we wasted no time getting her booked in for her Lethbridge newborn baby photos. She was in such a great mood through her whole session, even smiling a lot of the time (which is quite a feat for a newborn!). She was just as happy being swaddled as she was in her mom and dad’s arms. Adaline definitely knows how much she is loved :)
Raiden and Kendra celebrated the soon to be arrival of their daughter with early spring maternity photos. They personalized the session by including their classic Ford Falcon as a focus point, which may be the best maternity photo prop I’ve had so far!
I’m so glad they were able to add photos in the Helen Schuler nature reserve to the session because it looked amazing on Kendra! The time in between winter and the spring blooms is so complementary to redheads.
