Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Our unusually warm January last year continued to surprise us with morning rain before Bill and Sue’s portraits. We nearly moved things indoors but the sun came out just in time for their Indian Battle Park warm winter photo session. The ladies showed off their intense hiking skills by traversing the river bottom’s many puddles, ice sheets, and mud patches in high heels.

I appreciated how committed they were to the photos! The wind was cold and the sun kept vanishing, but their jackets repeatedly came off for the sake of the photos.

This session was a much needed update for the family, now that they have added a son-in-law to their children!

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It was another year of continuing our fun tradition of a family session with Melissa and Schuyer and their children! This year we switched things up again with Indian Battle Park fall photos, where it looks so beautiful in the autumn mornings. Melissa and Schuyler’s session was one of the few I didn’t need to reschedule due to snow this year. Last year they weren’t so lucky, so I was glad they scored a beautiful day this time!

Just days before the photoshoot, their youngest son Branegan decided he was truly a two year old and started exercising his independence. His siblings helped us out by leading him back when he’d run away, grabbing him in hugs, and distracting him long enough to stay in front of the camera. His most valuable item that day was his red comb that needed to be safely in his hands for all photos. Luckily it matched the clothing colour scheme his parents had picked out!

The kids got so excited when a slight breeze made the trees we were under rain down all their leaves. It was magical! (This was even enough to exchange a red comb for a leaf.) We did a lot of exploration in the river bottom and candid photos to keep their little brother distracted.

I love JJ and Shaun’s annual tradition of an autumn portrait session. As was a common theme this year, it took a few reschedules for us to escape the snow blizzards but we ended up with a beautiful evening and lots of vibrant orange colours remained. This year we went with Helen Schuler fall family photos. Each year they have me choose so I try to pick a different location, and we haven’t run out of new places yet!

Shaun’s career has him working for the railway so we made sure to get a few photos with the high level bridge, and spent the rest of our time exploring the nature reserve in the river bottom. Even though the girls are getting older, their energy hasn’t diminished and their antics (including asking their parents hilarious and inappropriate questions) had me laughing through the whole session.

Nic and Robin got lucky this year! They scheduled their Indian Battle Park fall photos two days before the blizzard hit us, meaning they are my only family who truly got the fall colours.

Each year I love seeing how much they have grown. At last year’s photos, Olivia wasn’t even walking yet. Now she was chasing after big brother Lucas and easily keeping up with him! These two are so adorable and made sure to make their mom and dad laugh whenever they were behind the camera with me.

We had lots of fun in the river bottom climbing on the logs and running through the grass.

Zach’s family celebrated his arrival with an outdoor newborn session in Indian Battle Park. As soon as I met his family, the first words out of big brother Joseph’s mouth were, “This is my baby!” That love for his new brother came out in every photo. Joseph may be one of the most excited big brothers I’ve ever met! Even when we spent a few photos focusing on Zach, Joseph would jump back in for a moment to give his baby brother a quick hug.

Their family session was full of huge smiles and lots of action shots (including the hilarious gross variety when Zach spit up mid-photo!).

This year I’ve done a bunch of giveaways to celebrate my 10th year in business. Corrine was one of the lucky winner’s of the year’s first giveway! We waited for nice weather, then her and her family decided to do summertime Lethbridge river bottom photos.

Although the family was briefly photographed by me at Corrine’s sister’s wedding, this was the first time in a long time that the focus was on just them! It seemed fitting that this 10th business year celebration coincided with 10 years since they’ve had proper family photos done.

We started out around Lethbridge’s high level bridge in Indian Battle Park, then headed to the river. The kids loved playing there with all the rocks to throw and trees to climb in!