THE STORY
Monday, March 23rd was my first day “back to work” after the kids’ march break. I use the term back to work loosely of course because this was the world of Covid19 and I run a “non-essential” business, so all client bookings were on hold. Because I don’t like to leave projects in the air while I’m on vacation, I had wrapped up all my existing client work before the break. So now what? I spent Monday making lists of all the back-office projects that I needed to do for my business, that I always delay in favour of client delivery – updates to my website, cleaning up my photo catalogue, fine-tuning my CRM system; you know, the exciting stuff! I might as well make the best of the situation right?…. Boring!
But then, on Monday evening I heard about Cara Soulia, a photographer just outside Boston MA, and her Front Steps photography project. Cara was driving around her small town of Needham, taking photos of families on their front steps, from a safe distance of over 10ft. All she asked in return was a donation to her chosen local charity. This idea was EXPLODING! I found her just 6 days after she’d started and she’d already raised over $10,000. She had three other photographers working with her and it seemed that every family in town was signing up (everyone was already at home due to isolation advice).
The idea stuck accord with me. I needed to bring this project to Oakville. I sent Cara’s instagram to a couple of friends and asked them to be my first families. On Tuesday morning, I set up the logistics – a GoFundMe page to support the Oakville Fare Share Foodbank, a sign-up form on my website for tracking, and a quick landing page to explain the concept. And we were off.. I photographed 4 families the first day, then eight, then eleven, and on the Friday (March 27th) I was up to 21 families in one day (which I quickly realised was too many, I was exhausted!) Sign-ups came in far faster than I could get to, but I figured as long as everyone was patient, I’d get to them. It was clear the isolation world was going to endure for some time to come.
On Monday, March 30th, Nikki Ide contacted me. We were acquaintances from high school, and she asked if I needed help. Nikki isn’t a professional photographer, but she has great skill, so I said YES! She was still working a day-job, so I gave her small lists of families to visit in the early evening once she was done work.
On Friday April 3rd, the Ontario government escalated its message, asking Ontarians to only leave home for grocery shopping and medical needs. Even though the Front Steps photos posed zero risk to either the families or me, it was time to hit pause. (At the same time, Cara Soulia also asked all photographers doing these photos to stop. She had been so generous advising in us in how to set-up, it only felt right to respect her wishes too.)
THE RESULT
In just 13 days, between Nikki and I, we had photographed 133 families and raised over $8700 for Oakville Fare Share Foodbank. I have kept the list of 96 further families that registered but I didn’t manage to get to. Depending on how isolation restrictions lift, there may be a chance to have a second phase of photos, stay tuned!
REFLECTION
These “quick and dirty” photos are so different from my normal style of family sessions where I take time to get to know the family I’m photographing; what makes them tick, what do they like doing together, how do they want to display the photos I’m making for them. But at the same time, they do connect back to WHY I do what I do (on a normal basis). They are about celebrating our families even in the not-so-great times, and remembering what’s important to us. I am also grateful to be able to continue to contribute to the community I’ve called home for more than 35 years. Providing photography to charitable organizations has always been important to me (it’s actually how I was inspired to make photography my career), and making the best of these strange times felt great (until it I couldn’t).
Apart from raising money for the foodbank when it most needs it, I loved the community connection aspect of this project. I saw families and friends that I hadn’t seen in ages. So many times, when I posted on social media, people would comment about how great it was to see old friends. I lost count of how many times, in the brief interactions I would have with people on their steps, we’d realise that we had mutual friends. In Oakville we don’t have six degrees of separation, it’s more like one or two!
