Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Amanda and Zach didn’t want any ordinary photos! I met Amanda years ago when I did her grad photos. She reached out again to have me photograph her with the love of her life (Zach) as well as the other love of her life (Cosmo). She came prepared with a list of ideas for their fun West Lethbridge couples photos. In the end, we created an unconventional couples session filled with favourite activities and inside jokes.

One element that made the session even more over the top was that it had just snowed and was freezing out, so they probably turned a few heads when people saw them playing board games outside in the winter weather.

As another cute touch, they brought along the shirts they each wore on their first date!

We laughed through the entire session (even during the more traditional poses) and had so much fun despite the temperature.

When Jenn told me, “We are a silly family and enjoy weird things!” on her intake form, I knew we were going to end up with some quirky family photos!

Ken and Jenn had many reasons to celebrate when they had their family session over Thanksgiving. It was the first time they were all together in over a year after some of the girls went away to school, and they had just gotten guardianship of their son! They also wanted some photos to honour their aging dogs Jack and Mr. Nibbles. The dogs were thrilled to be included in the action!

Their silliness came out through the entire session with tons of action shots, flexing, bunny ears, and piggyback rides.

What’s the best way to celebrate 40 years of marriage? Barbara and Larry chose to celebrate by telling their kids they were making a one hour detour before dinner to do 40th anniversary family photos!

Barbara has seen many couple start their lives together in her time as a marriage officiant, so it was wonderful to see her celebrate her own marriage! I’m so grateful to constantly be included in their family’s milestones for photos.

This session was lots of fun now their grandson is old enough to pose and make silly faces on command, though I think his uncle was even more of a ham in front of the camera! We spent this warm evening down in Lethbridge’s river bottom, and even got to visit some goats at the end.

I have been wanting to give newborn puppy photos the human baby treatment forever, so when I found out Tayler’s Siberian Husky Winter was about to have babies, I was so ready for it!

Winter had a litter of seven adorable puppies. I had to wait until they were just big enough that they looked more like dogs and so their eyes wouldn’t be hurt by the flashes, then brought all my baby posing props over for an adorable photoshoot.

The puppies are still at the super sleepy age, but a few were starting to get very rambunctious (if you’re wondering why some photos have only 6 sleeping puppies out of 7). They are all so sweet and soft and it was hard to go home without one at the end!

Weddings and events may have been postponed in 2020 due to COVID, but once restrictions eased up in the summer, everyone was grateful to spend time outdoors with their families! I was so thankful we have such beautiful, wide open outdoor spaces around Lethbridge so I could keep photographing all of these awesome families. I ended up hoarse on many occasions from yelling through my mask, but it was always worth it.

Two of the biggest trends I noticed this year were all of the babies who arrived (and these aren’t even the quarantine babies yet!) and all of the larger families who made an effort to celebrate important anniversaries and birthdays. I adapted quickly by bringing most of the newborns outdoors on warm days and talking their parents through poses. Everyone did so well!

Some highlights from 2020 include not one but TWO marriage proposals, a cat birthday, and a few more secret projects to come that I can’t share yet, including album art for local musicians and a children’s book. Each season was so amazing this year, from the long blossom season we had to the vibrant colours in the fall. Even the early snow was warm enough for outdoor photos!

Our Santa Paws photos looked a little different this year with Coronavirus, but we found new ways to make it work! Santa came to visit us at the Bone & Biscuit location in Crossings in west Lethbridge wearing a very festive mask. We safely spaced out all of our pet families with appointment times, and loved it so much that we’ll do it again! Our more anxious dogs got to have more time to sniff Santa without a bunch of other dogs waiting and watching.

This year all money raised was in support of Windy City Canine Rescue. We were visited by 60 dogs, 4 cats, and broke our average of one dog peeing on the floor with more than 3 accidents! Luckily, Santa did not get peed on this year, and thanks to his mask, you couldn’t tell if a dog had tugged on his beard a little too hard. (However, Santa WAS knocked out of his chair at least twice by excited pooches.)

We saw the return of quite a few favourites from last year (including the small crying boy who, sure enough, still cried at the sight of Santa), and hope to see everyone again next Christmas!