Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Charlene and Terry had a very emotional session with their family. This sweet mother, wife, and grandmother had recently entered palliative care. Knowing they had the gift of time, her children planned their Hillcrest family photos so they could capture some last beautiful memories with her in photos.

It was important to do the photos where she raised her children in the Crowsnest Pass, so we chose a beautiful spot down by the creek in Hillcrest. (It’s such a small world that her daughter lives several houses down from me in Lethbridge, and here we were travelling to our shared home town.) The family made a very big exception for physical distancing that day because it was important to snuggle in close to Charlene and show how much she was loved.

Peggy and Lourens celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last year and thought that would be a great time to get the gang together for anniversary family photos! The group has grown by quite a few little members since our last session, which meant a lot more dancing around and silly songs by the adults this time.

The little kids did great considering they all wanted to run around and explore the nature park instead of pose (especially the littlest ones who had just learned to walk), but many aunts and uncles came to the rescue.

To switch things up from last time, we visited Indian Battle Park in Lethbridge. One thing that was like their last session was the risk of being rained out again! We had better luck though and no umbrellas were needed this year :)

It’s been such an honour watching this family grow, and I hope to follow them through their next 30 years of anniversaries!

Our spring lilac family photos finally happened! Sarah was super stoked to make use of the pretty purple flowers for their spring blossom mini-session and even did the location scouting for me. Right when it was time for photos, a HUGE storm came in – our first hail and lightning storm of the season!

We rescheduled for the week after and crossed our fingers – both for the weather and that the lilacs would hold out! As photo time approached, the forecast didn’t look good. Sarah and I strategically texted back and forth throughout the day and rushed out to do photos a little earlier than planned. Success! Indian Battle Park was still full of lilacs and the day was lovely, although a little chillier than we had gotten used to.

Sarah and Kyle are some of the loveliest people I know from my university days so it’s always great to catch up with them again. The last time we did photos, Josephine was a lot shorter, and Levon was barely standing on his own! They now giggle wildly at each other and love exploring the nature reserve as a family.

Each time I photograph Jennifer and David’s family, it seems to increase by one! This last year we welcomed Adelyn into their spring blossom family session. Big sister Kalina had already honed her baby sibling holding skills the year before with Erwin, and it was a little easier this time after a whole year of growing taller! Erwin loved hanging out with his sister and even wanted to be included when it wasn’t his turn for a photo.

Their family was massively taken out for a while with the kids passing colds back and forth to each other, so we just about missed the spring blossoms but caught the last of them just in time! (The kids survived their session thanks to lots of goop being wiped out of eyes between shots.) After being stuck at home for a week, they were all so excited to be outside playing! Luckily photos hide the fact that most of them lost their voices ;)

Barrett arrived for his newborn baby session just before Christmas. This was a perfect excuse for his grandparents to visit for an early holiday! They were great helpers in the background, assisting with changing him and taking care of his big sister Addison when she needed a break.

I visited their home for his newborn photography. Each family member got to take turns snuggling him in photos, though Addison quickly decided it was more fun to go party with grandma and grandpa downstairs. Barrett flashed us his big, vibrant eyes through the whole photoshoot.

For Bonnie’s birthday, her family traveled from far and wide to celebrate. After Ribfest changed their original location plans, they decided to have a Nicholas Sheran family reunion on the west side. Since much of the family is from south of Lethbridge, visiting the lake was a new experience for many of them and they were so happy with their choice!

After a picnic lunch, everyone changed into their photo clothes for a big group photo. Bonnie was thrilled being around her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren! She is so proud of her family. She definitely enjoyed being the focus of the party! Everyone made sure a steady stream of homemade cookies came her way.

After photos it was back to playtime and I stuck around to take candid photos of the family having fun and enjoying the super hot day at Nicholas Sheran Lake.