Feel-good news alert: There are few places we can go these days, but our front steps aren’t off limits yet. A couple of photographers from the Boston suburb of Needham, Massachusetts, decided to bring members of their community together by inviting families out to their front steps to be photographed from a distance. The idea was to highlight the faces of neighbors, friends, and colleagues in the community that residents were no longer seeing day to day at the gym, grocery store, or school-drop off. They dubbed their quest The Front Steps Project and, during a nine-day period beginning March 17th, more than 400 Needham residents participated, getting their portraits taken while raising $20,000 for their community council ... and cheering up many in isolation at the same time.
The initial crew was clearly on to something as hundreds fellow photographers across the country – whose work has waned in the face of COVID – followed suit, launching their own versions of The Front Steps Project and raising money for organizations that support their own communities at the same time.
The result? Gorgeous portraits of moms, dads, dogs, kids, newborns, and friends from Georgia to New Jersey. As of March 30, the program has been put on hold and the founders have asked other photographers to pause their sessions to err on the side of safety, but the photos live on virtually. Check out the hashtag #TheFrontStepsProject on Instagram to scroll through the smiling faces of families ... which will likely bring a smile to yours, too.
