“It gave me a feeling of hope and sadness and loneliness and togetherness all at the same time.”
When school was closed on March 13 in Needham, Massachusetts, photographer Cara Soulia wasn’t sure what she was going to do with her time. As a professional photographer, she would no longer be leaving her house to take pictures like usual. However, because of the historic nature of the stay at home orders, Soulia felt like she needed to do something to document what was happening in her community.
“I knew that this was going to be really historic,” Soulia said. “And I always have the feeling of wanting to document this type of thing, so I was considering how to document it and I didn’t know how.”
The Armbruster family outside their home. Photograph by Ute Reckhorn
After talking to her friend and public relations professional Kristen Collins, they decided that since so many families were confined to their homes together, they had a unique opportunity for a new kind of family photograph – one that would document the historic nature of the time and give families a portrait to remember it by. They also decided to add a charitable component to the project by asking their subjects to make a donation to a local non-profit instead of charging them for a regular portrait session.
“It’s super unusual that everybody is all home together,” said Soulia, who immediately started pitching @TheFrontStepsProject portrait series idea to her friends and family. “Who doesn’t want a picture on their front steps? It’s a good way to document it, and have families give back to their community.”
The next day Soulia, Collins and other local photographers snapped to action and began setting up portrait sessions in their community. The idea was simple. Document their neighbors sitting outside their homes – from a distance of course. The first family Soulia photographed was her own.
“I joked with my family that they had to look good in case it went viral,” she said.
Soulia had no idea how much the project would take off.
Immediately, photographers from all over the country started launching their own Front Steps Project portrait series. To date, Soulia estimates that the project has raised more than $750,000 for charities around the world, and photographers have posted over 27,000 #thefrontstepsproject photos on Instagram.
The Akhavan family, photographed by Tom Wayne Bertolotti.
“It’s been mind blowing to see how this tiny little idea that we texted back and forth about has just blown up and gone viral,” Solia said. “Just to see it explode like it did is amazing.”
Local Palos Verdes photographer Ute Reckhorn even started her own series of Front Steps Project portraits in the South Bay.
“When I first saw her post I was intrigued because I was thinking about how I could reach out and do something with my photography for our community,” Reckhorn said. “I just loved the idea behind it. In a time when we cannot go out and meet each other, at least we can see each other’s faces.”
For both Soulia and Reckhorn, posing people for a family portrait without being able to touch them was difficult at first – but they both soon learned how to direct people with just their words. The sessions, which last less than five minutes, were unusual for both photoghers, who were used to longer sessions with their subjects, but staying a safe distance away was important for both photographers and their subjects.
Local real estate agent and owner of Accardo Real Estate, Marina Accardo and her family were excited to participate in the project.
The Accardo family photographed outside their home in Rolling Hills.
Photograph by Ute Reckhorn
“It was almost nostalgic,” Accardo said. “I know this is going to end, and my motivation was just to capture what I believe to be a historical moment. My kids are young and I know we will be telling stories about it, so I wanted to capture our time in quarantine and wanted to remember them at this age and have this moment captured in time.”
Accardo said that because she’s such a social person, it was difficult to be so far from Reckhorn during the photoshoot.
The Accardo family photographed outside their home in Rolling Hills.
Photograph by Ute Reckhorn
“We were shouting at each other from a distance,” Accardo said. “But she was quick and professional and it was really easy. It wasn’t like a normal photoshoot, but we were being truly authentic and tried to capture what was really going on.”
Another local Redondo Beach photographer, Tom Wayne Bertolotti decided to pick up his lens and do the same thing for his neighborhood. After pitching the idea to his neighbors on Nextdoor.com, he ended up connecting with families from Tulita Elementary school, and worked together to document the time in quarantine for the school’s yearbook.
“People were very happy,” Bertolotti said. “It really proved the importance of photography in times like this. I think it was really important to be able to capture a slice of life in times like this, in a safe way.”
He ended up photographing 100 families in 10 days, and has dubbed it “The Tulita 100.”
“The response was amazing,” Bertolotti said. “The response was amazing,” Bertolotti said. “… It’s also really interesting to be able to break up the day. People jokingly said that it’s the first time they’ve worn real clothes in three weeks, and it was fun to give people a reason to dress up as if they’re really going out.”
Deanna Harris, the yearbook coordinator at Tulita Elementary was one of the first families who participated in the project.
“It gave me something to look forward to for that day,” said Harris, who added that it was the first time in awhile that she put on a pair of jeans and did her hair. “I didn’t expect it was going to make me so emotional seeing all the pictures, but it really kind of brings up emotions in you when you see them. They’re taken from a distance, and it’s super sad when you look at it, but it also makes you really happy. It gave me a feeling of hope and sadness and loneliness and togetherness all at the same time.”
For Reckhorn, the Front Steps Project was just the beginning. She has since launched @FacesoftheSouthBay, a portrait project featuring pictures of the families behind local family-owned businesses. She has also raised over $1,000 for local non-profits.
“I find it interesting how it connects me to the community, it’s made more of an impact than I initially thought,” Reckhorn said. “It just keeps becoming bigger and bigger, just by starting one project and trying to find meaning. You throw one little pebble into the water and you see the first ripple – and you see so many more and they just keep getting bigger and bigger.”