North Attleboro Photographer Focuses Her Lens On Small Businesses

ATTLEBORO, MA —Every photograph is a snapshot in time. Debbi Bettencourt is hoping her Front Porch Photos! provide a lens years from now back into this unprecedented time, while she does her little part to support the small businesses that are being devastated during these difficult days.

The owner of Deb Bettencourt Photographer said she came up with the idea of Front Porch Photos! as she drove down the streets of Attleboro and North Attleboro and saw the normally active and thriving storefronts in the shopping districts vacant and dark. As a small business owner herself, she ached at the thought of those she knew losing all of their income, as residents are told to stay in their houses and on their property for all but essential needs during the coronavirus health emergency.

So she picked up her camera — and her long-range lens — and set out to do something to help. She posted something on her website and created an event page with her Facebook account offering to take family photos on their front porches. Her offer was to send the high-resolution images to the families with her only request that those families then tag her in the photos when they are shared on social media as well as tag one local business they pledge to support during or when they can after the crisis.

The response has been tremendous and uplifting.

"Every day I check my mail and there are more people asking me to take their porch photos," Bettencourt told Patch on Thursday. "I've done 50 (in one week) and will probably have done 60 or 65 by the time I finish on Friday. People think it's a great way to do something for the community, and just get out of the house."

Bettencourt said the subjects have ranged from health care workers in their scrubs, to families of first-responders in uniform, to little girls in superhero customers, to one man living alone who posed with framed pictures of his family members he cannot visit due to the state's stay-at-home order.

And there have been pets. Plenty of pets.

"It's funny because some people get dressed up and have told me this was the first excuse they'd had to blow dry their hair in a week," Bettencourt said. "Then other people come out in the same plaid pajama pants they have been wearing around the house. I love each one of them."

Bettencourt said she has taken porch photos in Attleboro, North Attleboro, Plainville and Wrentham. She uses her zoom lens and stands at least 10 feet away from the porch at all times. She said she stresses to the families that this "is not the framed portrait that you are going to hang over your fireplace" but is one that may stir an emotion when they look at it many years from now.

"It's a historical time," said Bettencourt, who plans to take a break from the project after her Friday photos sessions. "Ten years from now maybe they will pull it out and show to their kids, who might not even remember this experience, and talk about how this was the time when we were all stuck in the house for a month."

Bettencourt said the goal is to promote the small businesses that are struggling and encourage those who see the photos to support those businesses either during the economic shutdown or when they hopefully reopen following the crisis. She said she hopes those she is photographing for free now may remember her efforts when they are looking to hire a photographer in the months ahead when weddings, birthdays, graduations, engagements and birth announcements return in a more traditional fashion.

"The whole experience has been really positive," she said. "It's been nice for me to get out of the house and do something I love without putting myself or anyone else at risk. When you are shooting for fun you get to be a little more creative. And most of the people I talk to say, 'Oh my god, thank you for doing this. This is terrific.'"

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(If you have a story of a local business or organization that is looking to lend a hand to those in need during the coronavirus pandemic, or lift spirits amid social distancing and isolation, Patch
wants to let people in your community know about it. Contact Scott Souza at Scott.Souza@patch.com to help us spread the positives during this uncertain time.)

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