As the Coronavirus started to spread across the globe earlier this year, a new way for photographers to take family portraits from a safe distance began to emerge. In Seattle and other parts of the U.S. they were being called “Porchtraits.” Katie Kavanagh (or Katie Kav Photography as she is known to her clients) started working on her own series of images, called “Doortraits.”

Like everyone else, the wedding photographer and graphic designer saw an abrupt halt to her work during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting her to embark on a project that ultimately helped lift the spirits of people all over her community. 

Kavanagh is based in the Dublin 8 postcode, which, she says happens to be quite large and varied. “The architecture is different in different zones so it’s been great to document that as well as the people at their front door.”

“I started with my direct neighbors on my street and the street next to mine,” she explains. “I posted a few photos to social media and the images resonated with people. I’ve been zipping around on my bike doing them ever since.”

To get willing subjects, she put a call out on social media in April asking respondents to DM her if they wanted to be part of the project. “They email in and when I have about 20 in the same area, I hop on the bike and take the portraits,” she says. “It takes a bit longer than it should because of all the chats but I’m not complaining.”

While she says she hasn’t charged for the portraits, she did start a gofundme which allowed people to donate what they could if they wanted to.

“I’m working on a photo series of the lockdown to document and mark this moment in history,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page. “This is a chance to gather the troops, dress up and get a portrait of you/you partner/your family/your fur babies at your door.” She added that she would be donating the funds to Purple House Cancer Support Centre.

Kavanagh says setting the rules up in advance helped, making it clear that it would take no longer than 10 minutes, subjects would receive their images via email, text or WhatsApp, and, most importantly, she would be practicing social distancing by using a long lens.

“It’s been really well received,” the photographer sums up. “The media coverage has been great, with me appearing on national radio and television to chat about the project. The best part—the subjects love the portraits. It’s been great not only to document this time but a lot of them didn’t have a recent family portrait, so I was able to give that to them as well.”

All of Kavanagh’s doortraits were photographed with a Canon 5D Mark IV and a SIGMA 35mm Art lens. See more images in the gallery at top.

Check out more Photos of the Day, and email submissions to RF’s editor-in-chief at jacqueline.tobin@emeraldx.com.