The Front Steps Project: Documenting Charleston Families in the time of Coronavirus

On March 23rd I started my Front Steps Project in order to help document the faces of Charleston families who found themselves locked down at home during the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, guidelines were unclear and municipalities were all over the map in what was an allowable activity. It was crazy week, and in four days I was able to travel to thirty families to document them at home.

Unfortunately, as the week went on and the photography industry began issuing guidelines for photographers, it was clear that I needed to be staying at home, too. I had only been able to photograph a fraction of the families that had reached out for a quick memento (in exchange for a donation to an organization very important to me, Lowcountry Food Bank), but I loved meeting with every single one of them.

Scheduling was a breeze as pretty much everyone was home from school or work all day. For me, putting on real clothes and a little makeup to do what I do best filled these days with purpose. I LOVED the way each family made the session their own: one was dressed in their Easter best (that they knew wouldn’t get worn to church this year), one came right in from having gone fishing in the neighborhood pond, one said that this was just the motivation they needed to pressure wash the porch from the spring pollen, and one family didn’t even HAVE a front porch yet and posed on the heavy equipment that had just started building the house on their lot.

It was magical to have conversations with friends I hadn’t seen in ages as well as meet strangers who were so excited about this project. I missed giving hugs and shaking hands, and we all agreed that we couldn’t wait until we could do it again.

And the DOGS – finally an opportunity to get beloved family pets into the picture! Let’s face it, for most families, bringing your pets to a family session can be a little stressful for everyone involved. I loved seeing everyone’s dogs. A few cats even made a appearance 🙂

And now here we are on week eight of staying at home . . . restrictions have been lifted and businesses are slowly reopening. But nothing is normal. The kids are home from school, and Zoom calls alllllll day long are the norm. We haven’t hugged our extended families in two months, and we have to wear masks at the grocery store. Thankfully toilet paper is back on the shelves, but now we’re missing meat in the refrigerated cases. If no one you know has been affected by the coronavirus, you are lucky.

There is still so much uncertainty, but what I DO know for sure is that there is no substitute for human connection. Even the introverts among us (ahem, ME) are aching to get out and just be with other people who don’t live under our roof. I’m so honored that I had the chance to capture families together at the beginning of this pandemic (before none of us could get to the hair salons and barbers LOL!), to show the connection among families, to show their spirits, to show the love we have for one another. This will definitely be that time in history that we will never, ever forget . . .