Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

The year before, T and his sister surprised their parents with family photos. During the session, they lamented that they didn’t bring any of his Tae Kwon Do gear to celebrate the fact he was now a black belt!

The time finally come to focus on all of his accomplishments when he graduated from college.

We started out with some cap and gown convocation photos in Indian Battle Park, as well as some more casual pictures without the grad formal wear on. Then it was time to show off his Tae Kwon Do skills! We headed downtown to somewhere with enough space to go through his patterns plus some different levels to show off his other various skills. (It should come as no surprise he also dabbles in parkour.)

T is already teaching this martial art in youth classes and hopes to one day be a teacher now that he has focused his schooling on physical education. Judging by the skills he showed off during his photoshoot, he should have no trouble achieving his goals!

Torrince enjoys the company of her family, some close friends and the limelight at her Lethbridge graduation celebration

Torrince’s hair was swept up with tiny jewels sparkling inside it. Her makeup was smooth, her eyes smokey, and when I asked her to strike a pose, she moved with ease – like she’d been doing it her whole life! Like a young, Hollywood starlet, Torrince was a natural in front of the camera, and as her parents (dad, Quentin and step-mom, April) proudly looked on, it was all they could do to keep from tearing up throughout their daughter’s high school graduation portrait session – which did happen once or twice :).

This year was both fun and challenging coming up with a vintage 50s inspired feel for the poster for An Explosion of World Dance and Music, the annual dance show put on by Ammena Dance Company. Our original location we had planned to use fell through in a big way. Luckily one of the dancers in the show had a bit of a time capsule bar in their basement!

The retro vibe was inspired by a few specific pieces in the show, and you’ll see the costume pictured in the Grease number! The rest of the show has many of the usual dance styles people have come to expect from the studio, such as Latin, dancehall, bellydance, jazz, African, and many more. Come check it out!

It’s not every day I get to take Lethbridge professional wrestling photos, but this summer I found myself capturing the promotional photos for local wrestler Kenn Stevens. (This is such new ground for me that I’m not even sure what category to put this under on my blog!) Lethbridge may not have a big wrestling scene, but Kenn is the now the third person I know who takes part in this amazing form of entertainment! I have a couple friends who retired from the sport some time again so I’m glad to see it alive and doing well in new wrestlers.

This winter I was given an amazing opportunity to travel to New York with Renae Peterson from Beautiful Inside Academy and Susanne Richard from The Travel Agent Next Door for the mother-daughter bonding trip they had organized.

We set out with 7 mother/daughter pairs, one grandmother, and 5 solo travellers. I loved photographing this super fun trip!

Part 2 of the year in review features the portrait side of things!

The most exciting part of 2019 is that it was my 10th full year of being in business and I ran a bunch of fun giveaways. I’ve met a few of the winners, and can’t wait to photograph the rest of them next year!

It’s definitely hard this year to keep this post to a reasonable size with all of the fun things that have been in front of my camera. The year started off with a couples photo session turned marriage proposal (she said yes!).

I was able to photograph a few amazing performances (Diva Cabaret, A Streetcar Named Desire) and had a ton of fun with athletic shots with a Tae Kwon Do blackbelt and local wrestler.

Pets were wonderful as always, with a cat helping announce the arrival of a new baby, and being able to celebrate Louis the dog’s 10th birthday party with a picnic.

2019 was also the year of family reunions and landmark birthdays! Thelma was the record holder this year, celebrating her 100th birthday. Groupings of 20+ family members were common this year, making any families of 10 people seem itty bitty.

Because I’m not busy enough already, 2019 was my first full year being a member of a local BNI chapter (I’m crazy enough to have taken on the Vice President role of our chapter in October). This has led to creating great relationships with other local business owners and being able to create marketing photographs for them. The highlight of being a member came at the end of the year when I was referred to join an amazing trip to New York as the group’s photographer.

I hope you enjoy looking through our best portraits of 2019 as much as I liked choosing them!