Local photographer Vanessa Kerkere is illustrating the old English adage “a photo speaks 1000 words.”
As a wedding and event photographer, Kerkere’s business has slowed down dramatically because of COVID-19. However, she didn’t take this as a reason to put her camera down just yet.
After seeing a project from American photographer, Cara Soulia, on Instagram, Kerkere became inspired. The project was to capture families on their front steps of their homes, a way to be over 10 feet away while opening an opportunity for families to be excited during social isolation.
“The purpose is to spread joy and give back to the community,” Kerkere said. In exchange for the free family portraits, she was asking for optional donations to the local food bank.
Kerkere lives in Millet, but decided to make her Front Steps Project encompass Millet and Leduc.
“As a photographer my main focus is to capture moments, and right now it’s a pretty strange time,” Kerkere said. “Families are being encouraged to stay home and I like the idea of documenting those memories.”
This pandemic is an unprecedented and uncertain time in history. “I feel that photographers are important right now because when this pandemic is behind us the images that we have will be of value for generations to come,” Kerkere said. “These days will be seen as historic and it needs to be captured, be it from a Canon DSLR or an iphone.”
Although Kerkere has since decided to stop doing the portraits to follow new guidelines of self-isolation, which she feels is very important, she would like to “encourage anyone out there looking for porch portraits to choose a photographer who is donating the full proceeds to charity, since families are out there struggling to get by.”
Kerkere is “practicing all safety measure to limit the spread of the virus” and with uncertainty surrounding her summer wedding bookings, she hopes that her efforts to stay home as well as others’ will flatten the curve and enable her to get back behind the lens.
Anybody who wants to find out more about Kerkere’s Front Steps Project or her photography can visit www.simplyvphoto.com.
