We love you, Houston

Images of Hope: The Houston Hope Project

We’ve invited the community to submit photos that are uplifting, show works of beauty, or celebrate acts of kindness during these trying times.

By Catherine Wendlandt

Jazz Man

"This photo was taken in 2012 at Hermann Park," Dominique Monday writes. "I would see this man often between 2012-2013 playing in the same area of the park. To me this represents hope because it displays fond memories of Houston's normalcy."

Photography by Courtesy of Dominique Monday

Houston, we love you to the moon and back.

Photography by Courtesy of Urvashi Mishra

Rosemont Pedestrian Bridge begins to come alive again.

Photography by Courtesy of Julie Surfus

A vision of hope.

"With everything going on from COVID-19 to the recent racial injustices of black men and women," writes Cesar Ortiz, "seeing children and adults of all races and skin tones riding bikes together, jogging together, having senior graduation photo shoots: This is the hope, vision, and unity that we should continue pushing for and embracing the diversity of our awesome city of Houston."

Photography by Courtesy of Cesar Ortiz

A peaceful moment of reflection at the Japanese Garden.

Photography by Courtesy of Michele Des Jardins

Let your light shine.

Photography by Courtesy of Nuzha Petro

The Midtown sky

"I was visiting my boyfriend over Memorial Day weekend and I looked out his window and the view was amazing." Diana Bautista writes. "It just gave me a moment of peace and hope that things can get better, that I will be able to live permanently in Houston and we are all going to be okay. The picture is from Midtown overlooking the skyline at sunset."

Photography by Courtesy of Diana Bautista

Happy places

"Some of my best memories are of going for walks around the Menil with my daughter," Michelle Holbert writes. "She took some of her first, tentative steps there. These steps quickly turned to walking, then running around the museum, peeking into windows and waving to museum employees sitting outside on their lunch breaks. Now, at 4 years old, I still love to take her there. I feel hopeful during these uncertain times because some things have not changed and the same things bring me joy. Remember, and, if you can, revisit your happy places."

Photography by Courtesy of Michelle Holbert

Sunny days are ahead.

Photography by Courtesy of Jennifer Ayala

We love Houston.

Photography by Courtesy of Nicole Vigliotti

Hope is the only thing stronger than fear

Photography by Courtesy of Melissa Henry

Create Face Mask Covers Houston

"Our organization has created over 10,000 face mask covers and scrub caps for our first responders and medical professionals in the Greater Houston community," writes Lisa Carey of Create Face Mask Covers Houston. "We continue to make them as request keep coming in now we also provide them to nursing homes and at risk organizations."

Photography by Courtesy of Lisa Carey

Sunset on Buffalo Bayou

Photography by Courtesy of Guillermo Roman

Dinner's on us

"Since early April, we have provided nearly 50,000 meals for free to people struggling during this time," writes Kristin Torrez about Second Servings of Houston, a local food rescue nonprofit. "In addition, through out normal food rescue day-to-day, we have delivered over 500,000 pounds of food to our charity recipients. Although this is a difficult time, we are so grateful to be able to serve our wonderful community!"

Photography by Courtesy of Kristen Torrez

The sun still rises.

Photography by Courtesy of Stephanie Parker

Somewhere over the rainbow

Photography by Courtesy of Ruchika Behal

Chalked messages of hope in Sugarland

Photography by Courtesy of Tanya Pal

Nothing beats the views from the 60th floor at the Chase Tower in downtown.

Photography by Courtesy of Ami Patel

Life's golden in the fall

"Throwback to the last fall season in Houston when trees dressed up with astonishing colors," Soumava Dey writes. "While taking a stroll through Buffalo Bayou Park, I took this picture that depicts what a beautiful fall season we had in last year. This pandemic situation will pass; we will again get back to our normal life and wait for the next fall to embrace the beautiful colors across the city."

Photography by Courtesy of Soumava Dey

The sunflowers have got sunshine on a cloudy day.

Photography by Courtesy of Tracy Penn

Grateful for Houston nights

Photography by Courtesy of Michelle Holbert

Thrive 2020

Kiki Neumann changes the message on her front yard fence every few months. Her mission? "To share with my neighborhood some uplifting words," she writes. "I take recycled sign letters from urban buildings and paint them."

Photography by Courtesy of Kiki Neumann

Weathering through

"This is a photo of myself with my son, Lincoln, sitting on a bench in Stude Park looking at a fog blanketed skyline amidst Hurricane Harvey," Michael Gilmore writes. "It is a reminder to me of what is important as we weather the difficult storms life manages to throw our way. Thankfully we Houstonians have a long history of banding together to overcome challenges, as we undoubtedly will with this one as well."

Photography by Courtesy of Michael Gilmore

Life's blue by the bayou.

Photography by Courtesy of Guillermo Román

Sam Houston points out the way.

Photography by Courtesy of Lissette Riera

New beginnings

Cecy Lohr's family moved to Houston in early January of this year. "We took our kids to Hermann Park," Lohr writes. "To show them one of the many beautiful places in Houston."

Photography by Courtesy of Cecy Lohr

Downtown reflections at night

Photography by Courtesy of Jason Heeter

We've got our love for Houston on lock.

Photography by Courtesy of Ross Duhon

Snow on the bayou

Photography by Courtesy of Stephanie Brooks

Houstonians take social distancing to the roads.

Photography by Courtesy of Houston Places Spaces

Rainbow on the Buffalo Bayou

Photography by Courtesy of Stephanie Brooks

We 'HEART' Houston.

Photography by Courtesy of Alfredo Ramos

Sunset from Midtown with the moon

Photography by Courtesy of Jose Garza

We are H-Town.

Photography by Courtesy of Eileen Kardos

HOU > YOU

Photography by Courtesy of James Glassman

Another kind of lockdown

Photography by Courtesy of Mayra Delagarza

Life by the bayou

"One thing getting me through this pandemic is being able to go outside and look at the Houston skyline," writes Blaire Crowl. "We are Houston Strong."

Photography by Courtesy of Blaire Crowl

59's been ... Thunderstruck

Photography by Courtesy of Irina Rakalina

Masked for success

Volunteers from Dress for Success Houston sewed more than 470 masks in less than a week for the women they serve.

Photography by Courtesy of Elizabeth Galante

One Moody Plaza in Galveston

Photography by Courtesy of Lauren Webb

A sign outside the Wyndham Houston Medical Center

Photography by Courtesy of David Brown

Finding grounding

"Nothing’s more healing than nature. While remaining conscious of social distancing, I maintain a daily walk or two in my neighborhood of Tanglewood," Giselle Shapiro writes. "I find peace and inspiration when walking the grounds of Second Baptist Church. One evening I captured the magnificent beauty of this tree."

Photography by Courtesy of Giselle Shapiro

There is hope.

Photography by Courtesy of David Duncan

We love our heroes.

"I work at Thomas Street clinic," writes AJ Waguespack, "and this was taken in early morning as the staff was preparing to greet new patients as they come in."

Photography by Courtesy of AJ Waguespack

A view of the Houston skyline from Buffalo Bayou green space

Photography by Courtesy of Karen Atkinson

H-Town at night

Photography by Courtesy of Dan Caldwell

A Walking Iris

Also known as an apostle plant, this flower doesn't bloom until it has 12 leaves.

Photography by Courtesy of Christiana Skweres

#BoogieOn

Photography by Courtesy of Alison Yoder

The glories of spring

Photography by Courtesy of Misha Penton

We are #HoustonStrong.

"My wife and I were taking our nightly 'mental health' walk and came across this beautiful instillation," writes Chris Garcia. "A great reminder that we’re all stronger when we do things together. "

Photography by Courtesy of Chris Garcia

A microcosm of the Houston skyline, with the actual skyline in the background.

Photography by Courtesy of Jennifer Cooney

Dreaming of better days

"This was taken around Thanksgiving 2017 on one of those perfect Houston fall days," writes Claire Schaeffer. "It captured our son's endless energy and exuberance in front of the gorgeous skyline."

Photography by Courtesy of Claire Schaeffer

Addicks Reservoir during spring

Photography by Courtesy of Sarah George

A moment of reflection

"This photograph was taken the day the stay-at-home order took place," writes Jorge Rodriguez. "Breda and I are nurses at a Houston-area hospital ER, and we went out for a bike ride to take our minds off what was to come. I was able to capture her worry and hope in this photograph."

Photography by Courtesy of Jorge Rodriguez

Houston golden hour

Photography by Courtesy of MK White

A rainbow after a stormy day

Photography by Courtesy of Suad Othman

We at Houstonia have launched the Houston Hope Project, where folks can share instances of hope and goodwill in the local community.

We invite you to submit photos that are uplifting, show works of beauty, or celebrate acts of kindness during these trying times. Remind us why we love Houston so much. We will share these photos as a way to help give everyone a moment of calm and peace in these stressful times.

Want a chance to be featured? Submit your own photo below.

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