Between closures, cancellations and overall restrictions, COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on everyday life. When you add in deployments and quarantines, the overall feeling of the North Country and its military community has been downright disheartening.
"It didn't matter what platform of social media I was on. Whether it was Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, everything, all of the talk was a lot of doom and gloom," said Farrah Ramsey of Farrah Ramsey Photography.
So Ramsey took it upon herself to, at least for a flash in someone's life, change that. Ramsey, a freelance photographer and military spouse, understands the struggles of being separated from a loved one serving, but also all the uncertainty that COVID-19 brings to military life.
She took to those social media sites and offered her services free of charge. The responses came flooding in. Born was the Fort Drum "Porch Project."
"It was quick. It was fun. It gave me enough optimism to move forward with the rest of this project. I had no idea the volume or attention this project was going to bring," Ramsey said.
Ramsey has been documenting her entire journey on her social media pages. Using porches as the theme and backdrop allows the families to stay at home and allows Ramsey to keep her social distance. However, it also allows for that feeling of normalcy. In less than two months, Ramsey has brought those smiles to thousands of faces across Fort Drum's housing communities and even off post.
"My husband is deployed right now, so for myself and my little girl, it was an opportunity to kind of show him and show other people what our life is like here, and how we are all coming together as a community," Fort Drum spouse Amanda Neutkens said.
"It's been precious experience for me to share in all these small moments. We've done gender reveals. We've done birthdays. People that haven't been able to celebrate these things are now having that outlet to do so, and to blast it and share it with all of their friends and family and loved ones," Ramsey added.
It's an experience that Ramsey truly understood the impact of when, one day after a shoot, she came home to notes of appreciation on her sidewalk and the stone leading up to her home. It was her time to smile.