A portrait project to recognize family bonds and maintain community connection during a pandemic requiring social distancing - started March 22, 2020 in Madison, CT with photos by Cindy Ringer of LJR Images - benefits the Madison Foundation's Neighbor to Neighbor Fund - concept originated by Cara Soulia in Needham, MA in March, 2020 - #thefrontstepsproject

**UPDATE**  The LJR Images leg of The Front Steps Project will end on May 31st so that we can reopen our portrait business on June 1st. 

This project has been a wonderful gift to me during the pandemic.  And yet it is time it draws to a close.  Our last photo shoots will be Saturday, May 30, 2020.  Lots of love and gratitude to all who have participated.

Thank you for all your support! 

-Cindy

As families, we are busy looking for silver linings in this surreal time of quarantines and shutdowns.  I am offering to take five minute Front Steps Portraits of Madison residents. After your quick session, I will send you a link to the digital file of your portrait. In exchange, I am asking you to make a good faith donation to the Madison Foundation’s Neighbor to Neighbor Fund.

I'm posting a handful of the images to social media, and I hope you will, too.

The purpose of this project is to bring us together when we might feel isolated. I aim to highlight the faces of our community during a time when we might not see them in passing at the grocery store, coffee shop, on the train or at the gym. Participating in this project is also an opportunity to step up to help those who need it most right now in Madison.

I will be taking images outside ONLY and from at least 10 feet away. Our session will be brief, likely just 5 minutes. This is not a typical get-dressed-up-and-pose-for-the-photographer session. Want to stand outside in your pajamas and slippers? Sounds good to me. Kids in mismatched clothes but you’re thrilled they got dressed? Fantastic. Wearing your bike gear because you’re headed off to ride a trail in the nice weather? Love it! Be you.

Click above to request a Front Steps Portrait. We will do our best to accommodate families that can pledge a donation. If the demand becomes too great, or if local health guidelines change, we may not get to everyone, but we'll try.  Our plan is to continue this charitable project here in Madison until businesses reopen.

Stay tuned to see when and how LJR Images will reopen for business offering portraits in studio and on location, as well as school photography at daycares and summer camps.

Madison Families Photographed: 159

Funds Raised for N2N:  $7,000+ (still counting donations)

Stats updated 5/31/2020

Read this Letter to the Editor from N2N's Founding Director.

Credit for the concept and many of the words above must go to Cara Soulia in Needham, MA, a photographer whom I have followed and admired for many years. You can follow her, too:  carasoulia.com.

Cara's idea quickly blossomed into an international movement.  Visit www.thefrontstepsproject.com to see how photographers around the world replicated the charitable spirit of The Front Steps Project during the pandemic, raising over $1.5 MILLION.