The Front Steps Project – Edina

I am excited to write a little recap of The Front Steps Photo Project – Edina, that Hillary Wallace and I completed at the end of the summer. If you’re not familiar with the project, you can check out my description here, or the official Front Steps Photo Project website from the creators of the project in Boston.

This was such an amazing project to do during a time last spring and summer when everything felt so out of control and strange and sad. Capturing families together always makes me happy and last spring helped me to remember that we really all were in this together.

I feel so lucky to have met many wonderful families in Edina. A huge thank you to all of the families who participated in the project and were patient with us in scheduling photos that stretched out well into summer and the official quarantine was over. Edina is an extremely generous community and together we raised over $8000 for the Edina Education Fund! The Edina Ed Fund’s mission is: “Raising funds to support educational needs and opportunities for all Edina Public School students.” The organization has been helping families through COVID-19 in many ways since March, and will continue to help Edina schools now that they’re back in session.

It was a treat for me to get to see so much of our wonderful city. I learned a lot about Edina’s sense of community, generosity, spirit and optimism. One of the main observations that stuck out during this crazy and difficult time is that life is still happening. We got to be there with families to document birthdays, anniversaries, new puppies (so many new puppies!), new babies, selling homes and moving into new homes, high school graduations, etc. It was amazing to see so much celebration and love and life happening even in the midst of sadness and chaos and feeling stuck inside.

Here are some fun facts and numbers about the families photographed:

• 211 total families photographed by Hillary and me.
• $8,035 raised for the Edina Education Fund!!
• Several Birthday celebrations
• A few new home/selling home photos
• One sweet new baby
• Countless new puppies
• So many adorable family pets – including lots of dogs, a few cats, and one bunny
• Kids and families representing every school in Edina
• One Edina High School graduation celebration
• And … at least 5-10 times where I showed up at the wrong house in their front yard with a camera in hand … oops. 🙂

I am also excited to announce that one of my photographs was chosen to be included in the book: “The Front Steps Project: How Communities Found Connection During the COVID-19 Crisis,” by the Massachusetts founders of the project. The book “depicts hundreds of portraits portraying the emotions of the human experience: LOVE, COURAGE, SACRIFICE, JOY, COMPASSION, HUMOR, KINDNESS, PRIDE, PLAY, PERSEVERANCE, and ultimately: HOPE.” The book is available on November 24, 2020 and can be preordered here! Stay tuned for a reveal on which photo from Edina is included!

I am also working on a short Halloween Front Steps Project with our Edina Elementary School community. I’m excited to get back out there and take fun photos of kids in their costumes or just outside in the fall and raise some money for our elementary school.

Again, THANK YOU all for participating, supporting and reading about this project! Stay tuned as Hillary and I brainstorm some fun ways to display all of the photos taken in Edina during this historic time.