A whole summer of 2017 seemed to have disappeared from altF. How? We became busy with our personal “pay it forward” project we call “Roadside Families“. Last year at the WPPI conventionDalisa and I thought it was about time to bring back our project and do it one more time. For me, it wasn’t going to be enough to just do the same amount as in years past…. I wanted to top the numbers of families that I photographed before and really get things out there. So during last years WPPI tradeshowwe talked to our friends at Simply Color Lab, who supported the Roadside Families projectin the past and asked them if they would lend us the support again. They agreed and then later that evening during an awards presentation I was blindsided and awarded the WPPI Lifetime Achievement Award, although some of it revolved around my long career in photography a big part of that was our Roadside Families project. Well, that just hammered in the drive to do the project again so we stopped just initiating conversation and went right into it.
Two and a half months, 21,056 miles, and over 325 hours of driving back and forth to nearly the four corners of the continental United States. A chance to see the country again and an opportunity to meet and photograph over 130 families, 118 of them are photographers.
What is Roadside Families? A project that for photographers to photograph another photographer and their family and inspire volunteerism. Roadside Familiesis a “pay it forward” project. We photographed a photographer’s family and gave them a physical print that is ready to hang on their wall at no cost to them, thanks to our sponsors at Simply Color Lab. In turn, Photographers are then asked to 1. Photograph another photographer’s family willing to also pay it forward 2. Provide a physical print for their wall and 3. Commit to completing a couple of hours of volunteer work, community service or to donate their service to a worthwhile cause.
So what do we get from spending all that time traveling and shooting? Well, perhaps the biggest blog post in our career that is all about the family.
Our heartfelt thanks to our sponsors that have made the project possible: Simply Color Lab, ShootQ, Finao Albums, and Lavalu. And a special thanks to David Anthony Williams for inspiring the project beginning with the first time we did this way back in 2008. Please scroll down and look and enjoy the images of all these Families photographed in 2017 and hopefully by the end of the post you’ll be inspired to defeat procrastination and go out and have your family documented.
enjoy.
