Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

To celebrate the shared first birthdays of kitties Audrey and Franklin, their human mom treated them to a Lethbridge cat session. Each cat got a special birthday outfit. Franklin looked dashing in his sparkly bowtie, while Audrey turned heads with her purple tutu.

The kitties were very excited to have me visit their birthday party, though Audrey quickly decided the camera was super scary (I was totally fine, it just wasn’t allowed to cover my face!). We had to use some trickery to get photos of her, while Franklin was much simpler to please. For him, a well placed toy led him anywhere we wanted!

As his days with his family draw shorter, Carlos was honoured with a special pet session. This beautiful Lethbridge Great Dane has set out to prove his vet wrong and has already made it years past what he was diagnosed! Not taking any chances, his extended family treated his human mom and dad to the gift of pet photos while he’s still full of vitality.

Kristen celebrated the upcoming arrival of her second child with an Aperture Park maternity session. The whole family came along for photos. Even though Kristen was supposed to be the centre of attention, big sister to be Addison and their dog Rupert kind of stole the show. These two little ones were so adorable and so excited to be spending a nice autumn evening in the park!

Jacey’s early Christmas gift from her parents was a pet session with her dogs, Stella and Gia. Stella, the tan coloured dog, happens to be Gia’s mother. Despite the age difference, Gia was the one on her best behaviour while Stella had the excitement of a puppy exploring Aperture Part in west Lethbridge.

We started out with more classic posed portraits while we still had the dogs’ attention. Once our safe photos were finished, it was time for action shots! Each dog has her own set of special tricks (Stella’s “gopher” pose and Gia’s dancing were the cutest from each). Jacey’s parents described her as “the dog whisperer” and she was able to get the dogs to do everything we needed for photos!

At the end of the session, both dogs got to let loose with rolling in the leaves and chasing sticks. They did so great considering how crazy the wind was that day. The only signs of it were in their wind-swept ears!

This year was a time of huge change for Erin and Ross. At the same time they welcomed their new baby girl into their home, their beloved dog Lazer received a disappointing diagnosis from his vet. Lazer has been with them for years so he was like their first child before the kids arrived. They wanted to make sure their kids would remember what an important part of the family he was, so he became the centre point of their newborn family photos.

Newborn Mae was, of course, the other focus! Mae had arrived home only a few days before and had quickly settled in. She calmly slept through all of the noise and commotion of photos, including a very curious cat (we tried to get the kitty in the family photos, but she was not having it!) and her older brother loudly watching the Lion King. Big brother Kieran did great through photos and loved posing with his sister. This was his first time getting to hold her because he had just gotten over his cold. The Lion King was a great reward for his awesome modelling!

Lazer also did fantastic and loved snuggling with his family, though he was confused as to why he was suddenly allowed on the couch!

This year I decided to highlight all of the 2020 Lethbridge PAW Society calendar cats in one big post, rather than a bunch of smaller blogs that I tend to forget to share on social media! Lots of kitties ahead!

This year’s calendar had a sports theme so I focused on getting action shots of any cats who had the energy and a favourite toy. We had some hilarious results! Whether thanks to a piece of string or a good hit of catnip, some of these cats went wild for their playtime!

All kitties are adoption success stories from the Lethbridge PAW Society and were photographed in their loving forever homes.