Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Joy received a wonderful gift of birthday celebration extended family photos when her family came to Lethbridge for her big day. Her three daughters and their families all came home to celebrate for a few days, giving her the chance to see all of her grandchildren who had moved away.

As happy as Joy was to see everyone, the kids were even happier! They were bursting with excitement to go on their outdoor adventure in Indian Battle Park and play with their cousins, grandma, and aunts and uncles. After the posed photos were done, all of the kids got to run around and play around the bridge.

p.s. One of my favourite things about Joy’s family is that there are four sets of twins!

Amanda and Jason aren’t getting married for a while but wanted a headstart on their invitations and wedding website. We planned for a Lethbridge river bottom engagement session to make use of the space around the high level bridge, then headed to the Galt Museum. They love the look of old brick, and the Galt is one of the best places to find that!

If they hadn’t told me that Jason was new to having professional photos done and that Amanda hadn’t experienced them much more, I never would have known! The two followed directions so well and were able to switch from silly, cute, and cheesy to serious and romantic within moments. I definitely appreciate when couples will follow my instructions to “skip violently”!

Heather and Bradly love to update their photos yearly around Christmas and ended up with very warm winter family photos this year! Their session looked and felt like it took place in autumn, despite the few random patches of snow.

Their son Braxton was so excited for their photoshoot that he made sure his mom and dad were out the door and on their way well before they needed to. He had such a great smile for showing off his missing tooth and got such cute photos with his parents.

When Jenn told me, “We are a silly family and enjoy weird things!” on her intake form, I knew we were going to end up with some quirky family photos!

Ken and Jenn had many reasons to celebrate when they had their family session over Thanksgiving. It was the first time they were all together in over a year after some of the girls went away to school, and they had just gotten guardianship of their son! They also wanted some photos to honour their aging dogs Jack and Mr. Nibbles. The dogs were thrilled to be included in the action!

Their silliness came out through the entire session with tons of action shots, flexing, bunny ears, and piggyback rides.

I’ve worked with Melissa many times for her family photos, but this time I had the opportunity to focus on just her! In addition to her work in the world of medicine, Melissa is also a local Lethbridge musician and needed some singer-songwriter promotional photos for her solo music she is working on.

Melissa usually plays guitar with a local rock band of other health care professionals, but her solo work shows a more vulnerable side. Normally my focus is on colour work, but a ton of black and white felt like such a good fit in this case.

Being a true rockstar, Melissa bared her arm and shoulder tattoos in the freezing cold for the sake of these photos!

I love seeing my past wedding clients growing their families! Vanessa and Robbie made a day trip down for their Waterton winter maternity session. This was one of the rare times I got to photograph snow this winter, so I appreciated it despite the freezing temperatures! Vanessa herself was super brave to strip down to her dress and no coat a few times. It helped that they came prepared with mochas to warm up on!

We adventured through what was open in the park. Luckily we were able to access nearly everything since Waterton didn’t yet have snow up to the rooftops! We set up a little mocha picnic on one of the snowy trails and confused a few hikers.