A local health care worker is using her off time to educate people about the importance of social distancing while taking their portrait for her Guelph Front Steps Project.
Chantel David-Kieley devised her photographic project as a way to bring people together while public health and the government is asking them to stay apart.
David-Kieley is still working full time as a personal support worker at St. Joseph Health Centre and fits her portraits in during her spare time.
She said the portraits are a way to get some people out of the house and socializing, if only for a few minutes.
“I am social at work and I know how it is to feel isolated and how that can impact the community,” said David-Kieley. “It’s been a huge eye-opener for me, to see what everyone is going through and how we are all going thorough the same thing.”
She stays more than two metres away from her subjects at all times when shooting and delivers the photographs electronically online. The photos are also posted on the Facebook page she set up for the project.
The subjects can be closer to each other because they are living under the same roof and don't have symptoms of COVID-19, noted David-Kieley.
As a PSW, David-Kieley fully understands the importance of keeping physical distance between people in the face of COVID-19 and uses the sessions as a way to remind those people she is photographing why it is essential.
“The social distancing thing is important and I mention it during the shoot because that’s what it’s all about, and also to make people feel not so isolated in their home and give them a chance to see other people in the community because they don’t get the chance now,” said David-Kieley. “It’s comforting for me to promote that in the community, how important social distancing is.”
She took a photography course a few years ago and uses professional-grade equipment but does not charge for the portraits. She does ask that her subjects consider donating to a local charity if they are able.
“I am not a professional, I just do it for fun and I go out in the community and take nature stuff and families,” said David-Kieley. “It gives me a chance to engage with people and it makes them feel like they aren’t stuck in their homes.”
Every shoot has been an adventure. On Friday morning she had urban chickens sharing the frame with a family, on another day a young girl at a different shoot wanted her pet bunny included.
One woman told her she hadn’t had a family portrait done in 10 years
“We are having lots of laughs about it too, people tell me their stories and their background and what they have been doing during this time,” said David-Kieley.
On Friday afternoon David-Kieley met up with fourth year University of Guelph students Mara Gohren and Elizabeth Crouchman on the front steps of the south end house they share.
Both students are going home to different cities once they graduate and said the portrait will give them a chance to remember their time together, as well as the self quarantine.
“I saw it on her Facebook page and thought it was so cute and funny. We were going to be home, so I thought why not?” said Mara Gohren, a student in the university’s marketing program.
She and equine management student Elizabeth Crouchman have lived together in the house for the past two years.
“I thought it would be something fun and different to do while we are locked up for a few days,” said Crouchman. “Just get out of the house a little bit — or on the front step, any way.”
David-Kieley said she has even had coworkers at St. Joseph’s
“It’s nice to see them outside of work and meet their families,” said David-Kieley. “Everybody is working so hard right now.”
