Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Nic and Robin got lucky this year! They scheduled their Indian Battle Park fall photos two days before the blizzard hit us, meaning they are my only family who truly got the fall colours.

Each year I love seeing how much they have grown. At last year’s photos, Olivia wasn’t even walking yet. Now she was chasing after big brother Lucas and easily keeping up with him! These two are so adorable and made sure to make their mom and dad laugh whenever they were behind the camera with me.

We had lots of fun in the river bottom climbing on the logs and running through the grass.

Zach’s family celebrated his arrival with an outdoor newborn session in Indian Battle Park. As soon as I met his family, the first words out of big brother Joseph’s mouth were, “This is my baby!” That love for his new brother came out in every photo. Joseph may be one of the most excited big brothers I’ve ever met! Even when we spent a few photos focusing on Zach, Joseph would jump back in for a moment to give his baby brother a quick hug.

Their family session was full of huge smiles and lots of action shots (including the hilarious gross variety when Zach spit up mid-photo!).

This year I’ve done a bunch of giveaways to celebrate my 10th year in business. Corrine was one of the lucky winner’s of the year’s first giveway! We waited for nice weather, then her and her family decided to do summertime Lethbridge river bottom photos.

Although the family was briefly photographed by me at Corrine’s sister’s wedding, this was the first time in a long time that the focus was on just them! It seemed fitting that this 10th business year celebration coincided with 10 years since they’ve had proper family photos done.

We started out around Lethbridge’s high level bridge in Indian Battle Park, then headed to the river. The kids loved playing there with all the rocks to throw and trees to climb in!

Mathias was surrounded by family and love for his Lethbridge newborn photoshoot. Not only did he get to snuggle his mom in photos, but all of his extended family was there! Mathias is the second grandson in the family (after his cousin) and his abuelos radiated happiness around the two boys.

He started out his session a little sleepy (minus many snack breaks) and then woke up to make the most adorable faces! I especially had a weak spot for this family being Disney fans and including that in the photos :)

It seems to be becoming a tradition that when Marg and Craig get their family together for photos, the wind comes along too! We first experienced this in a big way for their daughter’s wedding in Waterton. A couple years later, the wind arrived just in time that morning. Luckily this left us with tons of leaves on the ground for the kids to play with during their Henderson Lake extended family session and the big trees at the park provided just enough shelter.

Marg and Craig’s children and grandkids traveled from around Alberta to be there for their morning photos in Lethbridge and everyone had so much fun playing together! The kids couldn’t decide if they should play with each other, with their aunts and uncles, or with Grandma and Grandpa, all of whom were showering them with attention.

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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 :)