Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Christina and Layne chose a beautiful sunny day for their river bottom winter maternity photos. I absolutely love golden hour at this time of year with how much the warm tones glow in the sun. We only had a bit of snow to deal with in the background! Christina radiated joy for her baby arriving soon.

She and Layne also brought along their first child, JackJack. JackJack is a very small dog with a blonde mohawk! I have never seen such a unique dog before! He wasn’t so sure about what we were up to but he was a good sport about the whole thing.

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Charlie was treated to some senior dog celebration photos with his family who loves him very much! Charlie’s mom organized this special session with Charlie and his human brothers Daniel, Jake, and Luke. Even though the boys are all adults now, they still love their childhood dog so much! Charlie is just one of the boys and loved exploring Aperture Park with his family, some of whom were visiting Lethbridge just for this session. Not only did it smell like deer everywhere, but he had so many huge sticks to choose from!

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Part 2 of the year in review features the portrait side of things! This year marked a few firsts, including my first bunny session and my first family dressed in Batman costumes. I had so much fun with every group I worked with. Thank you for letting me bring your personalities out in your photo sessions!

This year for portraits I stayed pretty local in Lethbridge, but also took a few special trips to the Crowsnest Pass, Waterton, Claresholm, and Magrath. The yearend marks a very special occasion – the 10th anniversary of when I started my business! So many of the people in these photos have been with me for years and I couldn’t have made it this far without their love and support.

I hope you enjoy looking through our best portraits of 2018 as much as I liked choosing them!

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Our second year visiting Santa was a success! This year’s Santa Paws photos were held at the new Bone & Biscuit location in Crossings in west Lethbridge.

Santa Paws 2018 Stats:

– Santa was visited by 41 dogs and 9 cats
– Santa’s hat was stolen once
– Santa was debearded twice (once by a dog and once by a cat)
– 458* bribery treats were administered
– there was only one floor accident
– one very brave pup got closer to Santa than last year

*totally made up number

Proceeds from the event went to support The Last Chance Cat Ranch.

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I’m so happy with all these puppies I got to play with this month! Timber joined me with his human mom for his Lethbridge Burnese Mountain Dog puppy photos. He’s also part Golden Retriever, but the Burnese seems to be taking over. Timber is already larger than most small breed dogs, but a tiny fraction of the final size he will become!

I could not get over how well behaved he is for a puppy. That is largely thanks to the training he is taking, but he’s also such a gentle soul. He was happy to quietly explore all the new smells at the park and dig through the grass for fun clumps of leaves to play with.

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Ella and Mike held an intimate Waterton cottage end of season wedding celebration for their friends and family. Their friend generously offered her cottage for the ceremony. When the rain showers that day decided to arrive around ceremony time, everyone squished into the home to watch the couple say their vows. For the rest of the day we had wonderful weather and it stopped raining every time we went outside for photos! We had to take the umbrella photo they wanted in the sun. ;)

Ella and I have crossed paths many times over my years in Lethbridge because of our mutual interest in dance (she was the second dance teacher I ever had!). It’s amazing to see her so at home with Mike. In Mike she has found a shared love of nature and animals. Mike rescues and rehabilitates bears for a living. All day he expressed how amazed he is to have found a woman who loves bears as much as he does!

Their love and kindness towards animals is obvious in their interactions with Ella’s “baby” Coco. Coco goes on every nature adventure with them and can keep up on 30km hikes even with her tiny legs! She was an important part of the wedding day and had her own little white dress to match her mom.

Congratulations, Ella and Mike!

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