Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Kord contacted me to do surprise Waterton winter anniversary photos for himself and his girlfriend Jenny on their third anniversary. What a fun gift idea! Jenny was so happy with this perfect gift that she had a lot of trouble putting away her smile. Whenever I’d ask her to be serious for a photo, she would try then exclaim, “I can’t, I’m having too much fun!” (Good thing I’m fast… I got a few serious ones in there!).

This was a rare year that Waterton hasn’t yet experienced its snowpocalypse. We were very flexible in where we could do photos and even had trouble finding snow in a few places! The usual Waterton wind made things a little difficult on the cliffs and shoreline (as in I could barely stand up). On the plus side, we missed the hurricane force winds a few days later and the ridiculousness of the wind made Kord and Jenny laugh even harder as they tried to casually pose in it!

They are such a cute couple and I had a blast exploring Waterton with them. I wish them many more anniversaries!

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Jordanna and Deiter managed to sneak in vibrant Lethbridge autumn engagement photos before the snow arrived! We used lots of snuggling and hand holding to get them through the crisp cold that day. I think they did a great acting job making it look like a warm autumn evening. It definitely helps that they are so cute when they cuddle each other! I had a great time exploring the Helen Schuler Nature Reserve with this upbeat couple and can’t wait for their wedding in a few months.

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Part 2 of the year in review features the portrait side of things! This year marked a few firsts, including my first bunny session and my first family dressed in Batman costumes. I had so much fun with every group I worked with. Thank you for letting me bring your personalities out in your photo sessions!

This year for portraits I stayed pretty local in Lethbridge, but also took a few special trips to the Crowsnest Pass, Waterton, Claresholm, and Magrath. The yearend marks a very special occasion – the 10th anniversary of when I started my business! So many of the people in these photos have been with me for years and I couldn’t have made it this far without their love and support.

I hope you enjoy looking through our best portraits of 2018 as much as I liked choosing them!

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When Erica contacted me to do her 10th anniversary family photos, I thought it would be fun to dig up her and Bill’s wedding photos from a decade ago for comparison. This is one of the weddings I did before I had my own business so it was going way back! Some of the photos were a little embarrassing to look back on, but I loved seeing how much I’ve improved since then.

Some observations:
1. Crazy Cakes has always had that square hole in the wall. (I’d normally edit that out, but it’s cute to see the building hasn’t aged much!)
2. Ten years ago the Dutch angle was very popular in wedding photography and I had a lot of trouble pulling out old photos to recreate that didn’t make me dizzy with their tilt. Wikipedia says, “the Dutch angle is one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed,” making me scratch my head as to how this was such a huge wedding photography trend!
3. Erica and Bill are just as in love as 10 years ago.

It’s amazing to see the happy family they’ve grown into. Their two boys are such joyful, energetic kids and had a blast finding new surfaces to jump off of throughout the photos. We started the session downtown to revisit a few of the locations we had used in their wedding photos. Next we headed to the Helen Schuler Nature Reserve so we could make giant piles of leaves for throwing. I think our success at having fun is directly related to how many leaves the boys had to pull out of their shirts when we were done!

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This summer I teamed up with a local organization to build up their image library with Lethbridge lifestyle photography. After running a model call on my website, several families were selected to take part in the project. I got to work with such a diverse group of people, from friends to past clients to some new faces! We ended up with so many natural and joyful images for the organization to choose from. Here are some of my favorites!

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I was so excited to hear from Ami-Marie when she got engaged to Devin. I’ve photographed her friends and family, and now I get to photograph her in love! Her and Devin love the fall (it’s when they are having their wedding too) and decided on Indian Battle Park autumn engagement photos while all of the amazing colours were out. We explored the Helen Schuler Nature Reserve for the first part of their session and then visited downtown Lethbridge, which was just as vibrant. Ami-Marie and Devin are so cute together, full of snuggling and laughter. I’ve been told that Devin will need to lose his beard soon for work, so I’m glad we were able to capture its glory in this engagement session!

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