Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

I was happy to return for my fifth year of photographing the Lethbridge MS Walk, held by the Lethbridge MS Society.

It definitely started out as one of the coldest walks I’ve attended! Despite the cold, the walk still had fantastic attendance and all participants were in great spirits. Before the walk the kids were kept entertained with balloons, face painting, and all the adorable dogs that attended the fundraiser. The children’s joy in turn was contagious!

Right as the walk began, the sun came out, warming up everyone enough to get their muscles moving. I quickly found my usual golf cart friend and had a great time capturing everyone having fun at Henderson Lake. The walk ended with its usual pizza lunch and still more sunshine, just narrowly missing the blizzard that arrived later that day!

I was honoured to be asked to return for my fourth year of photographing the Lethbridge MS Walk, held by the Lethbridge MS Society. This year’s walk was held at Henderson Lake again, giving participants beautiful views of the water and Canadian Geese during their walk. This was probably the warmest year they’ve ever had for the walk and had amazing attendance as a result, including both newcomers and long time participants.

As usual, I had an amazing time photographing the event. The organizers do a fantastic job making sure all participants and volunteers are healthy and looked after. I had a golf cart friend again who sped me around the participants (and around the many, MANY geese at the lake) so we could capture as many moments as possible during the walk and at the festival area before and after.

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Night to Shine is a huge party held for special needs people so they can feel like celebrities! From the moment they enter on the red carpet, they are met by the paparazzi and cheering fans. Once inside, they are treated to complimentary hairdressers, makeup artists, shoe shines, delicious food, and endless dancing. The event is only held in select cities so it was wonderful to have it in Lethbridge for 2018!

Myself and several other photographers volunteered our services for the evening. Once the limo rides (graciously donated by California Dream Limo) started up, I was on limo duty and had so much fun cruising around the parking lot with everyone! Back inside, the dance floor was constantly packed right up until the last song. I loved seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces!

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This year Santa and I teamed up with Pet Valu West Lethbridge for special Christmas photos with all kinds of pets! In addition to our usual dogs and handful of cats, this year we also had a hedgehog and a gecko. There was also an appearance by a few furry members of the RCMP! Thanks to everyone’s generous contributions, we raised nearly $400 for A Better Chance Animal Rescue!

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It was fantastic to return to volunteering for the 2017 Lethbridge MS Walk in support of funding for multiple sclerosis research, held by the Lethbridge MS Society. This year it was held at Henderson Lake instead of the river bottom, and what a fantastic day to hold it! They are normally worried about snow and instead were greeted with a beautiful, calm sunny day.

This year we were able to split up duties so I could focus on candid photos of the walk itself. One of the kind volunteers carted me around Henderson Lake in a golf cart all morning :)

Thank you to everyone who walked and helped raise money! There was another great turnout this year.

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It was an honor to photograph the CNIB Night Steps Lethbridge fundraiser held at Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens this month. CNIB is a great organization that provides services for the visually impaired and the walk is held at night to represent blindness for all participants. The organization chose to have the very first Alberta Night Steps in Lethbridge and they pulled off a really great event.

In addition to the walk, there were addresses by Mayor Spearman and MLA Maria Fitzpatrick, as well as a performance by Lethbridge taiko group Hibikiya and other activities at the gardens.

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