Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

I met Richard through my BNI networking group and it didn’t take long to see how much he cares about his work. Richard runs Empower Potential Coaching and his passion for helping people is obvious in everything he does. He needed a business branding session for his new website so we brainstormed the feeling he wanted to convey and worked from there!

The rain forced us to stay indoors, but the new science building at the university provided the bright, welcoming feel I had wanted to capture in Richard’s photos. We started by staging a few photos of Richard working with clients. Freeze frames of people speaking can capture a lot of awkward moments, so we did a lot of gesturing with hands without actual speaking!

Another important element in Richard’s life and the inspiration for the work he does is his family and relationship with his wife. They agreed to model for us too! I wanted to show the connection and joy they feel together, and the kids all did fantastic (thanks to some bribing and a stern talking to beforehand, according to their mom).

In between the guest appearances, we were able to get a number of headshots of Richard himself with a variety of looks. Once he put his suit on at the end and we really worked with the architecture of the building, he looked like he was transformed into a high end CEO!

Leslie is happiest when it snows, so when her friend treated her to a headshot session as a Christmas gift, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect! We planned her Lethbridge winter headshot session at the very last minute (the snow was falling that night and would melt within two days) and headed over to Aperture Park on the west side with Leslie’s favourite winter coats in tow. Leslie is a talented author and a joy to be around, so I wanted to make sure her new book portraits matched her personality.

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Tanya was in need of updated professional headshot photos and her house made a great studio! She collects artwork on her travels and it added such great pops of colour in the background. By the way, doesn’t she have a great name? ;) Even her dog Will got to update his headshots while he waited for her to switch outfits.

After her headshots, we finished the session with Lethbridge winter coulee pet photos. Tanya regularly goes cross country skiing with Will. There wasn’t quite enough snow at the edge of the coulees to actually put her skis on, but we brought them along to pose with.

One sign of a good photographer is being able to photograph black pets and still have details show. I think it is an entirely new challenge to photograph a white dog in the snow! In a few spots the snow was a little deep for Will but he had so much fun bounding through the powder!

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Rachel was in need of some headshots for auditions. We were both available over the Christmas break so it was a perfect time, especially since we could make use of the whole University of Lethbridge while it was still open and hardly anyone was there! Rachel has such great different looks and I wish her luck at her future auditions :)

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Joanne was in need of a new photo for her company’s website and wanted a more natural look to her headshots, so we went out for a some outdoor portraits in downtown Lethbridge. Joanne was great in front of the camera and I loved her clothing choices!

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The very beautiful Lindsey, who is always such a treat to work with, was in need of some professional head shots so we met up at the university for a fun session. She is always such a natural in front of the camera… I don’t feel like I have to do any work to take her picture! :)

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