Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Joy received a wonderful gift of birthday celebration extended family photos when her family came to Lethbridge for her big day. Her three daughters and their families all came home to celebrate for a few days, giving her the chance to see all of her grandchildren who had moved away.

As happy as Joy was to see everyone, the kids were even happier! They were bursting with excitement to go on their outdoor adventure in Indian Battle Park and play with their cousins, grandma, and aunts and uncles. After the posed photos were done, all of the kids got to run around and play around the bridge.

p.s. One of my favourite things about Joy’s family is that there are four sets of twins!

Heather and Bradly love to update their photos yearly around Christmas and ended up with very warm winter family photos this year! Their session looked and felt like it took place in autumn, despite the few random patches of snow.

Their son Braxton was so excited for their photoshoot that he made sure his mom and dad were out the door and on their way well before they needed to. He had such a great smile for showing off his missing tooth and got such cute photos with his parents.

When Jenn told me, “We are a silly family and enjoy weird things!” on her intake form, I knew we were going to end up with some quirky family photos!

Ken and Jenn had many reasons to celebrate when they had their family session over Thanksgiving. It was the first time they were all together in over a year after some of the girls went away to school, and they had just gotten guardianship of their son! They also wanted some photos to honour their aging dogs Jack and Mr. Nibbles. The dogs were thrilled to be included in the action!

Their silliness came out through the entire session with tons of action shots, flexing, bunny ears, and piggyback rides.

Xavier arrived right in the heart of social distancing so I had to wait a few extra weeks to meet him. By that point he was still little enough to fit in my basket! We waited for a beautiful summer evening for his Lethbridge river bottom baby photos.

Xavier started out his session great, arriving completely passed out. He wasn’t about to let us off easy though! He quickly woke up and made sure we knew about his displeasure with having a photoshoot. He made his parents really work for it and after ample swinging and bouncing he was ready to resume. Plus it helped that we tricked him into photos between each swing in their arms ;)

While I wish the fall colours could last forever, they look so pretty when we get early snow along with them! Henriet and John got to make use of the first snowfall of the season for their snowy river bottom family photos. John pointed out that their autumn family photos on Christmas cards would look a lot different than everyone else’s!

Eric had a great time in the snow, even if he thought I was totally not funny. (Luckily his mom behind me worked for getting smiles!)

This session was a thoughtful gift from John’s sister, who was invited to stay with them when certain family members needed more space for COVID safety this year. I think she was just as excited to see these photos of her nephew as his parents were!

What’s the best way to celebrate 40 years of marriage? Barbara and Larry chose to celebrate by telling their kids they were making a one hour detour before dinner to do 40th anniversary family photos!

Barbara has seen many couple start their lives together in her time as a marriage officiant, so it was wonderful to see her celebrate her own marriage! I’m so grateful to constantly be included in their family’s milestones for photos.

This session was lots of fun now their grandson is old enough to pose and make silly faces on command, though I think his uncle was even more of a ham in front of the camera! We spent this warm evening down in Lethbridge’s river bottom, and even got to visit some goats at the end.