Dozens of not-quite-candid pictures freeze a moment in time in the life of the School.

In 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton launched Humans of New York, a photoblog and book of spontaneous portraits and interviews collected on the streets of New York City. The website developed a massive following, and the subsequent Humans of New York book spent 31 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list. Now cities across the planet have created “Humans of” blogs to demonstrate both the wild diversity and common threads among us. 

Sidwell Friends Magazine introduced its own version of the phenomenon this fall with professional portrait photographer Tim Coburn. We erected a pop-up portrait studio on both campuses one random day in October and found students wherever we could: The Lower Schoolers assembled in classroom lines; the Middle Schoolers were persuaded to take a detour from their lunch breaks; and the Upper Schoolers stopped by between classes and during free periods. After hundreds of photographs and 30-second interviews, it became clear that the students of Sidwell do indeed capture the humor, poignancy, and beauty of humanity writ large. 

There were a few consistent themes. The wetlands, the sand box, and the Fox Den were by far the most popular spots on both campuses. The students we spoke to came from around the world: Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Israel, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, and China, among other countries, and of course the DC area. Finally, a majority of students we spoke to expressed gratitude for the Sidwell community—their friends, their teachers, “this School.” Over the following pages, enjoy some of the results of this project through photographs taken in the moment—with no advanced notice— chronicling individual students on an average day. 

Photography by Tim Coburn

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