Offering Porch Portraits in an Olympia Neighborhood

If there’s one thing the Coronavirus pandemic has taught many of us, it’s the importance of the family unit. During globe-spanning stay-at-home orders, families of all kinds stepped inside—and stayed there—and rediscovered the power of connecting to one another.

Olympia, Washington photographer Kristina Wunsch saw this forced family time with an optimistic and creative eye. She took her now-halted photography business, Poppi Photography, on the road to different neighborhoods to celebrate home life.

“I like the idea that people can have something to look back on that was maybe a struggle and know that they overcame it,” Wunsch said. So, she grabbed her telephoto lens and (from a safe distance) she shot 30 family portraits in two days!

The resulting series of photographs shows families both lighthearted and subdued: celebrating birthdays and newborn babies, and also missing essential working parents and lamenting lost jobs.

Most families, like Daniel Overstreet’s, took photos on their porches. “You’re supposed to celebrate the good times and the hard times and just any milestone in life,” Overstreet said.

Wunsch saw a need in her Olympia neighborhood, and she used her gifts as a photographer to bring light in a trying time. In the process she captured moments that these families will cherish forever. So, let’s ask ourselves: what talent do I have—whether or not it’s my day job—that I could use to bless my neighbors? A good idea could be just a click away.

(Information for this blog taken from, “Porch photography: local families pose during pandemic” by Saint Bryan in the April 15, 2020 KING 5 Evening report.)