Kerry’s Warwick Photo is celebrating 30 years of printing photos of “everything from birthday parties to autopsies.”

Kerry Sheridan, the business’ owner, hadn’t originally planned to go into photo printing. She was an English major at the University of Rhode Island but got a job at Warwick Photo while she was working for (and taking pictures for) an appraisal service. She eventually purchased the photo business and has owned and operated it ever since. 

“I love my job, I really do. I love the people,” she said. “I do a great many things. If you bring something to me, I make it happen.”

Sheridan’s business offers a variety of services, including photo restoration, reprints, enlargements, video to DVD transfer, scanning slides to CD or USB for archiving or printing, gifts like mugs and t-shirts, and more. Much of what she does involves reprocessing very old photos, meaning she gets to see many aspects of her customers’ lives.

“I’ve watched these people in this city grow up,” she said.

But she also added that she has seen “everything” – Sheridan used to print photos for police departments, hence her “birthday parties to autopsies” description of her business.

More often, though, people come to Sheridan to have their photos done for much different occasions, oftentimes for purposes of bereavement or printing materials of sentimental value. That means “everybody cries in front of me,” said Sheridan.

Jackie Grant of Coventry is no stranger to sharing instances of tears with Sheridan. Sheridan converts Grant’s old photos on slides to digital format. She even taught Grant how to email the photos to family members. The simple action turned into an email chain of 13 people who added more of their own photos, which reunited many of Grant’s family members who hadn’t spoken in years.

“She has a passion, which makes me passionate,” Grant said, tearing up as she remembered conversations between family members over her father. Sheridan’s eyes also watered, proving that they do, in fact, seem to do this often.

Documenting the past is important to Sheridan, especially since the field she is in has changed so much over time.  

“This whole thing is steeped in history. This business came from cameras you put over your head,” she said. Though she doesn’t have one of the over-the-head cameras, Sheridan does have a closet full of decades-old cameras and slides that customers have given her. Though she appreciates ways in which devices have changed, she sees dangers in a world where people don’t print their photos as often as they used to.

“The unfortunate thing about this business is that this is the least documented generation ever recorded because nobody prints anything anymore. It’s all on the phone and when the phone goes kaput or you press the wrong button, it’s gone,” she said. “That’s one of the things you fight against in this business.”

Though other printing services have a hard time staying afloat in a digitized world, Sheridan said, “I keep going because it’s just me” and her personal approach to doing business.

To celebrate the monumental 30th anniversary, Sheridan is offering 30 percent off video to DVD transfers (excluding 8mm film) to anyone who mentions this article. Kerry’s Warwick Photo is located at 1944 Warwick Avenue.