Back in March – when the country shut down due to the Coronavirus epidemic, a Boston photographer and her friend decided they wanted to highlight the faces of their community during a time when they couldn’t see them socially. Since then, hundreds of photographers across the country, have started their own Front Step projects. One of those is here in Park City.
The Front Steps project has raised more than $750,000 for nonprofit organization across the country, including food pantries, hospitals, and animal shelters. With the help of a matching grant, Realtors Matt Davis and his wife Ali, have raised more than $11,000 for the Park City Community Foundation by taking photographs of locals in quarantine – in front of their homes.
Davis and his wife are realtors and he is a professional real estate and architectural photographer. He says he heard about The Front Steps project from a friend. They created a sign up and started taking photos.
“The project itself was originally designed to provide a fun, five-minute photo shoot for families in front of their homes, while practicing social distancing” Davis said. “And so, ultimately, a photographer comes around, takes a few quick shots, and moves onto the next place. In lieu of any charges or rates or anything, they ask that the participants donate to local charities and in this case, we decided to ask for all of our efforts to go to the Park City Community Foundation and their COVID-19 Community Response Fund.”
He's taken photos of those who signed through social media.
“So, all of our signups have been through social media, and ultimately we’ve had a signup online and people have been drawn to there and signed up through there and we’ve had over 130 families so far - over two different rounds,” he said.
And for those who may not have front steps, he says many have been very creative.
“We’ve made it work,” he said. “We’ve had people come out on their snowmobiles; we’ve had people come out on their balconies in some of the different complexes. People have really embraced it. So, ultimately, we’re looking for people to be themselves and hope to really capture how they’ve embraced this situation. And I can say out of 130 families, everybody has done that. It’s been quite a lot of fun to see people take to the front of their homes and have a few moments of fun forgetting about all of the craziness we have going on.”
The Davises choose the best few shots, do some editing and then email the family the finished product. He says the family can do what they want with the photos…
He has several days invested in doing the shoots – as well as the editing and emailing… but he says it’s been worth it.
“It’s kept me busy and it’s been a great fun to see everyone take part.”
You can find the link and see the efforts of the project here.
