PRO COLUMN
Jenny Smith on her front door lockdown portrait project and shooting for a good cause
Five weeks ago (in mid April) I was feeling a bit sorry for myself after seeing all of my work cancelled due to COVID-19, when I read about calls to domestic abuse helplines skyrocketing during lockdown. Since the UK went into lockdown, the charity Refuge has reported a 700 per cent increase in calls to its helpline in a single day.
Suddenly I didn’t feel so hard done by, and it was then that I had a light bulb moment – what if people were to donate to Refuge in return for a socially distanced portrait of them at their front door? I often ask families to stand at their front doors during my sessions anyway, as these can make wonderful backgrounds, but I figured the best thing about a front door photo in the COVID climate is that it can be taken from two metres away or more.
Initially, I put a post on my Instagram (@jennysmithphoto) and set up a page called Front Door Photo on JustGiving, hoping that I might raise £1,000 for the domestic abuse charity. I knew I was onto something when I reached that target in under 24 hours. As I write this at the beginning of June, I’ve photographed over 400 households – including Ed Miliband MP, Radio One DJ Greg James, Tracy
Brabin MP, and Bambos Charalambous MP – and raised over £16,000.
Keeping to the government guidelines, I was shooting local people I could visit during my daily exercise, but other photographers soon got in touch asking if they could do the same thing in their area. There are loads of us on JustGiving, which is something I feel immensely proud of.
The Front Door Photo project has been the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my career to date, and it’s been a real privilege to meet so many amazing people, each interpreting the situation in their own way. For some subjects, my portraits have been an excuse to dress up for the first time in weeks, while others have come out in a dressing gown and bare feet.
The project has also turned out to be the best marketing I’ve ever done, which was something I hadn’t even considered when I started. Of those 400 families I met, many told me they will book me for work again when things settle down. So while the virus may have stripped me of all my bookings, this project could end up being my saviour.