Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

When Gary and Sylvia’s family booked their session, I was warned about two cranky boys: 1 year old Takeshi who was currently teething… and grandpa TJ who does not like having his photo taken! Ribfest over at Henderson Lake made us decide to switch over to Nicholas Sheran portraits. This was a great decision as we found a spot completely sheltered from the crazy wind that day!

The little boys loved climbing in the trees (so did their dad) and having sword fights with sticks. Grandpa TJ peacefully sat back and laughed at everyone having to chase the kids into photos.

This was a really special family session that allowed them to get four generations together in one photo.

p.s. Final assessment? None of the boys were very cranky :)

Steva celebrated turning 90 in a very special way with a combination birthday family reunion. With family members coming from out of town, everyone was able to reunite to celebrate this special lady’s momentous birthday.

The family all joined me in Indian Battle Park on this beautiful evening, and we took the opportunity to photograph each individual family as well as everyone together. Four generations got together for this birthday family reunion. Steva was able to get cute photos with her and all of her great grandchildren together.

Happy birthday, Steva!

Anna and John managed to get their whole family together for one weekend and celebrated the rare occurance with Lethbridge river bottom family photography. John received the VIP treatment as he had recently injured his foot and was wheeled from location to location by his grandchildren. All of the kids loved playing together and being able to spend time with their cousins, while the aunts and uncles taught the kids silly nicknames for each other. I was so happy we were able to organize everyone at the last minute for photos in Indian Battle Park!

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It’s been nearly 7 years since Larry and Debbie rounded up the kids for family photos, so a lot has changed since then! The biggest change is that “little” Luca went from being a giggly toddler to a talkative big kid. Plus, a whole bunch of doggies have been added to the collection! I went into the session clearly knowing which dogs belonged to which family because I was given each dog’s full name (dog name + family name) on the family’s intake form. (It’s important you know that one of the dogs is named Schlubby, and he was such a Schlubby they couldn’t possibly have given him another name.)

We carefully timed these multi-generation photos to take place in between rain storms and knee surgery. Luckily crutches were easy to toss to the side when it was time to pose! Aperture Park provided a gorgeous backdrop and gave the dogs lots of trees to sniff, and Luca lots of things to climb on.

It was great to catch up with this family, especially because they have so much fun when they are together and the joy is contagious!

Waterton is a special place for Bev and Dwight. Over the years, they’ve returned to the national park as their family has grown, first by children and then grandchildren. Bev spent some of her time reminiscing about how her and Dwight used to go there when it was just the two of them! This year they added a Waterton family photography session to their visit.

It was so adorable seeing how much their grandchildren loved spending time with them. Everyone vied for seats in their vintage car between photo locations!

We went on lots of fun adventures in Waterton, starting with the cliffs behind the Prince of Wales Hotel and then exploring along the beaches (with just a touch of rock climbing!). It was a beautiful day in the park and luckily all the storms just missed us.

Everyone got to follow up their photoshoot with lunch and beach time!

Vivianne and her family had many reasons to celebrate when they got together over the long weekend. The Easter weekend falling later this year meant it coincided with Vivianne’s landmark 85th birthday, as well as several other family members’ birthdays! Everyone decided that it would therefore be a perfect chance to plan a family reunion.

Several of the Lethbridge family members graciously hosted everyone for the weekend. I joined the family just before one of their lunches. We rounded everyone into the green space behind the house for their formal extended family photos, and had to be very careful to avoid all of the wild animal droppings! (That park is clearly a favorite hangout spot of local deer.) Although a few family members sadly couldn’t attend that weekend, it was still momentous getting that many together all at once!