Deep Thoughts From Second Grade

During this difficult time I’ve had trouble with my marketing strategies, this isn’t business as usual, in fact, nothing is usual or typical or normal right now.  I wanted to share something that might bring a smile to your face or give you hope for our future since that’s about all we have to keep us going.  And there’s about nothing more hopeful than a group of 2nd graders, smart enough to put complete ideas together, young enough to still believe everything is possible.

These photos are the outtakes and finished pages from a book of portraits I put together for Bright Night, my son’s big fundraiser at school.  Every year a parent spearheads the project for their child’s individual class and I’ve been wanting to do it for years so I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, due to the spread of the Coronavirus, Bright Night was canceled.  But before a single parent had the chance to lay their hand on my sample copy 26 out of 28 families purchased the book,  40% of the price going to the school.

I knew I wanted to do portraits of each student in the 2nd-grade class, but I wanted the project to be interactive as well.  I came up with the idea of asking them each the same question, something that would speak about who they are at this exact moment in their lives.  Working with their teacher and the art teacher, we put together this question, “what is your favorite thing about yourself and how can you use it to help the world?”

With the help of my team from CPS Lives we set up a backdrop outside the art room right before the 2nd-grade class went into art.  Once everyone was seated I came into the class and explained the project while the art teacher wrote the prompt on the board.  Then, one by one, in about 35 minutes I photographed all 28 kids.  I think it was a miracle that they were all in class that day, after all, it was February.

My goal was to capture each of them in a normal and relaxed position.  I grabbed the chair since I figured if they were sitting they just might sit still which is nearly impossible for a group of 7-8-year-olds.  I thought by turning the chair sideways I was giving them a choice of how they wanted to sit, another way of expressing their individual personality.  And while I photographed I discussed the questions with them and listened to their answers.

Once I had edited all the portraits and chosen my favorites I was faced with a big question; do I do any retouching.  Since I wanted this book to be a time capsule of who these kiddos are exactly at this moment, I didn’t want to change a single hair on their head. But at the same time, I was selling these to their parents.  So I broke down and retouched one boy’s giant Alfalfa, sticking up from his head.  Everyone else is exactly who they were when they sat down.

I had an absolute blast putting this all together. If I got a chance to do a project like this again I would give myself a bit more time per student and set up a video camera so I could get all of their answers as sat down for their portraits.  This group of 2nd graders has a stronghold on my heart and I’m really excited to see them grow up and leave their imprints on the world.