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The Universal Family Portrait: Uniting the Human Race Through Family Portraits

by . March 2nd, 2015

Because of her love for photographing diverse, modern families, Michele Crowe—who grew up in a large Italian family herself—created the Universal Family Portrait Project. The Long Island, NY-based photographer created this wonderful series of family portraits aimed to unite the human race through the spirit of family.

Michele’s subjects are pretty diverse: families from different cultural backgrounds, families with same-sex parents as well as the size and scale of a family’s household. Through a photography book, Michele wants her viewers and readers to see the uniqueness and understand that the love of a family knows no boundaries, no matter what family the setup is.

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Unlike most traditional family portraits wherein the family will just sit altogether and strike a pose in a studio. Michele wants her portraits to look more organic and tangible. She wants to create a portrait that is something many people could relate to. She does this by coming over and doing the shoot in the interested family’s house or in their favorite go-to places that define them as a family instead of doing a studio session.

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By photographing the families inside their own homes or in the family’s favorite locations, Michele is able to create a comfortable environment for her subjects to open up. Apart from that this also gives us viewers a more intimate glimpse of the family. The little things in the scene such as the trophies, the parents’ vinyl collections, the drawings on the pink wall as well as the places that the family goes to, all adds sincerity and a feeling of familiarity.

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In order to unite the human race and truly show the diversity and beauty of the family. Michele’s goal is to create a book with photographs of various households all over the world thus creating the Universal Family Portrait.

What do you folks think about Michele’s wonderful portrait project? Share your thoughts at the comments below! Interested families can contact her through email (michelecrowe@gmail.com) and don’t forget to check out the Universal Family Project blog, Michele’s website and Kickstarter page for the Universal Family Portrait Project if you want to support this project.

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