Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

This was such a fun project to be a part of! Drunken Sailor, which is hands down one of the best and most unique stores in Lethbridge, was putting together a magazine editorial with some of their everyday wearable looks and I was able to take part in their fashion photo shoot. Our gorgeous models were given fabulous pinup hair and makeup from Catwalk Salon and Katt Panic, a perfect compliment for the vintage inspired clothing they were modeling.

Clothing: Drunken Sailor
Makeup: Katt Panic
Hair: Catwalk Salon
Models: Carisa, Heidi, Thea, and Loralee (owner)

(more…)

I’m glad I was indecisive and went with two very different looks for Eva’s photos, because my second choice of concept with the playground equipment ended up being my favorite! We started out with my first idea of dramatic contrasting colors in the woods and playing with the motion of fabric, then headed to the playground where Eva got an intense workout doing gymnastic poses for me. She’s such a champ that she climbed up there with her heels on!

Model: Eva Richardson
Theme: Fashion

This photo is part of the Lens Factor Photo Project in which 5 photographers were given teams of 5 models and given 5 themes to work with. The results were kept secret until all final images were revealed at once. I took a number of photos for each theme and my out-takes appear below!

(more…)

After a very busy summer, I’m finally able to share the third installment in my larger AFI-inspired photo project, this time for Medicate. (You can read more about the project here.)

We needed a spot where dumping gold paint wouldn’t be an issue, so Marcella and I headed out to the edge of the city for this and the blackness of the prairies at night was perfect for the black and white theme. Marcella totally rocked this with her golden locks!

Model: Marcella Etherington
Video: Medicate by AFI

(more…)

On Sunday Michael and I did another collaborative shoot with the lovely Elaina, who you might remember from The Hotel Arts shoot last month. Elaina is always a dream to work with, so we called on her to model a few gorgeous pieces from a Mckenzie Couture line. Mckenzie is a brilliant Lethbridge fashion designer and lent us some really colorful and funky work she has done.

We took to the old brewery in Inglewood in Calgary for our photos, and couldn’t have asked for a better day, or a richer location. Aside from the dirtiness and scary pigeons flying out of holes, the one location had such a good variety of backgrounds and textures that we never changed locations the whole afternoon. Usually Michael and I end up with really different frames when we share a shoot, but this time we were both feeling the brewery the same way, and came up with some really similar shots even though we didn’t look at each other’s cameras and reposed Elaina whenever we switched. The lone tree you see at the end of this post just had to be framed that way!

We were assisted by Michael’s friend Satnam, as well as Elaina’s crew, all of whom were good sports as we tiptoed admist the pigeon poop :)

(more…)

On Sunday I got to partake in one of the most exciting shoots I’ve ever done! A group of photographers made up of Lethbridge folk and Calgary Strobists got together with the U of L swimming team, a group of models, a fashion designer (Caitlin Power), a makeup artist, and a scuba diver (Chris) for what can only be described as epic. Michael Warf, Kevin Logan, Cody Belter, and I split off to do head shots of the swimmers while the other photogs set up for the fashion shoot, and then we all headed to the dive take window to take part. All the models and swim team must really be commended for the great work they did… their jobs were not easy!

(more…)