Tens of thousands of people attend Ottawa’s Bluesfest every year.
But none of them get to see it quite like Steve Gerecke does.
For the past four years, the 49-year-old Ottawa man has been the festival’s official photographer. He has total access to the festival site. He will get shots from the front, sides, and back of the stage. And quite often he will go to great heights, towering high above the crowd in a bucket lift.
It is a perspective of the festival like none other. And what’s even more remarkable is that, due to a physical condition that has weakened his leg muscles and joints, Gerecke spends most of his time in a wheelchair.
It’s made him a very recognizable figure at Bluesfest, especially when he is being lifted up above the stage. “I hear STEVE! STEVE! But I look around and I see thousands of people waving because I've got a camera and everybody wants me to take their picture so it ends up somewhere," he says.
Bluesfest decided to hire the free-lancer a few years ago when they realized the photographs stood out among the thousands they receive each year. "He gets that shot that really just so head over heels above most shots we see that really conveys the essence of the event," says Bluesfest Executive Director Mark Monahan.
