The family portrait is a long-standing tradition, but Rocket introduced something new: Chosen family portraits. To honor the people who love and support the LGBTQ+ community but go unrecognized. Rocket set up a free professional photo studio at Motor City Pride. Because home isn’t just where you live — it’s where you feel love, belonging, and acceptance.

Sam note: “This project had a quick turnaround so figuring out story structure prior to the event, having storyboards and pre selecting music was vital. It was not your typical event coverage. Identifying moments such as the pan into the photo studio for a reveal, understanding how short and impactful the testimonies needed to be and making sure we got diverse representation was prioritized. My hope for this piece was to not only tell the story of our Pride activation, but to capture the subtle moments of meaning between people who love each other and what it means to have belonging. We didn’t learn fully about the attendees but what we could do is uplift their essence in the short time they had with us. Allowing for them to be their full selves helped us in creating a video that was honest, emotionally grounded and optimistic.”

Producer: Grace Elliott

Director: Samantha Mannino

DP: Nathan Eroh

Creative Director: Joy Crocker

Creative Strategist: Bellal Ammar

Editor: Randall Kupfer

Colorist: Ryan Wright

Animation: Alexx Kolenda-Mason

Writer: Cassandra Riddle

Line Producer: Michael Valenti

Photography: Eli Lindaur, Haley Kasper