Kids photographed as the superheroes they really are
Josh Rossi may not look like a caped-crusader, but he does have a sidekick: a camera. And he has a superpower, too: his eye.
"Usually I take about 500 to a thousand [pictures] per kid," Rossi told correspondent Lee Cowan.
He can focus it with superhuman accuracy, to turn a child into a Dark Knight in a flash.
"I thought it was just going to be the photos that were cool," Rossi said. "But they would put on the costumes and totally transform."
By day, Rossi is a commercial photographer in Salt Lake City. A few years back, he and his wife, Roxanna, transformed their daughter into Wonder Woman just for fun.
He said, "We sent it to a friend via Facebook Messenger, and that was it. He wasn't supposed to post it, he wasn't supposed to do anything."
But he did. And guess what? "The next morning we got a call from People Magazine, and they're like, 'We want to feature this.' Whoa, what the heck?" Rossi said.
Excited parents from Metropolis to Gotham started asking the Rossis to turn their kids into superheroes, too. But one request stood out, Josh recalled: "It was a mom that reached out to us and said, 'My daughter has cancer. You know, she's the real Wonder Woman. Like, we'd love if you did a photo shoot of her.'"
"And that's what clicked?" Cowan asked.
"Yeah. So, I started thinking, what if we went out and filmed real superheroes in society?"
Roxanna said, "You know, when you have, like, a calling in life, you feel like, 'I was meant to do this'?"
Ever since, the Rossis have been turning tiny people battling huge challenges into the superheroes they really are.
Chloe McCarty, for example, is living with a severe cognitive impairment, and yet as Wonder Woman, she looked ferociously focused.
Her mom, Sara, told Cowan, "Chloe can sometimes be left in the background a little bit; she doesn't get looked at. So, for her to have the experience of being the hero, being the one that's out in front, is pretty cool."
Eight-year-old Bridger Penney can't walk or talk. But as Superman, he seemed to fly.
"He's Superman through and through," said his mom, Chelsea. "He is a superhero in every sense of the word."
Superman is a pretty popular choice. In 2017 Teagen Pettit became the Man of Steel – just one member of the "Justice League Kids."
When he was born his parents, Ryan and Brytten, were told he had two options; he could fight, or …
"The other option was to just go ahead and take him home and he would pass away that weekend," Brytten said. "And you know, when you're faced with all those options and decisions and you just barely had a baby, it's pretty overwhelming."
Teagen fought through countless procedures. And the Justice League Kids went viral.
Teagen was just nine then; he's 13 now, and he still has that suit, as a reminder of a time when he stopped looking at his heart as his Kryptonite, and instead saw difference as powerful.
"After that, I was like, 'Oh yeah, my heart condition, it's cool,'" Teagen said. "I was kinda sad that it was making me different in a bad way, and it feels like after the Superman thing, it makes me different in a cool way."
All of this comes out of the Rossis' own pocket. The costumes alone can cost upwards of $1,500 apiece. They're all custom-made for each kid.
Their kindness isn't just for those who are suffering illness or disabilities, either. In 2018, this shoot – featuring 15 kids dressed as The Avengers -- was all about bullying.
Benson Bateman said, "I was getting bullied a lot." But a remarkable thing happened when he took his picture dressed as Spider-man to school: "They were just like, 'Wow, that's crazy, we're sorry,' and just left me alone."
Lives can be changed by re-imagining the way they see themselves. But costumes don't always have to mask our real selves. Sometimes, as the Rossis have shown, they bring out our hearts, too.
Josh Rossi said, "People see these photos, and they're like … what do the photos do? You know, they're just photos. But they have a deep impact, like, emotional impact."
Roxanna Rossi said, "If we can help them forget about their disease, their illness for a few hours, you know, like, it's all worth it."
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Story produced by David Rothman. Editor: Mike Levine.
