Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

It’s a big deal when Bob and Linda come to visit! These sweet grandparents live in northern Canada, but their grandson and his family and sister are in Lethbridge while he completes his degree. Bob and Linda planned a special trip to see their great grandchildren and have a family photo session while they were in the city.

We picked the University of Lethbridge as our backdrop both because of the wind and because the location is meaningful while Ken goes to school there. (Usually my clients get a little worried about getting lost on campus, but Ken easily knew his way around!) We explored the new Science Commons building and the kids loved all the elevator rides!

Bob’s great grandson is named after him, so he brought along special matching embroidered hats for the two of them to wear. I’m only disappointed the elder Bob didn’t have bright green hair like his great grandson ;)

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 :)

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!

What a historic celebration for this family! Lillian was celebrating her 100th birthday and had all of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and a large number of nieces and nephews came to visit for a Galt Historic Railway Park family reunion. Lillian’s son operates the Galt Historic Railway Park in Stirling, making it the perfect venue for their event. This was my first time visiting the museum and I was so impressed by this hidden historic gem!

Once Lillian arrived at her party, dressed to the nines in her pink crown, we got everyone together in front of the train station for extended family photos with the birthday girl. She got to retire from the photos before the kids, thus getting first dibs on her cake!

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The last time I photographed Jennifer and David’s family, it was just the three of them with Kalina. This time we had four with their newest family member, Erwin! As a special addition to their Lethbridge pink blossom family mini session, Grandma and Grandpa came along for a few photos. Kalina hardly left her grandma’s side, leading her around by the hand whenever they weren’t in photos together. Their grandparents were masters at getting them to laugh!

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If we’re in Lethbridge over the Christmas holidays, I’m always happy to squeeze in families who are together for a few days. Chris and Udo had their daughters visit them for Christmas and took the opportunity to do Lethbridge indoor winter family photos at the University.

Grandma and Grandpa came along too! Grandma had the biggest smiles and was so happy to be around her beautiful granddaughters and their boyfriends.

Udo is significantly taller than everyone else in his family so he was like our anchor in every photo (while the family joked about always having him sit).

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