The American Teenager Project Overview

The American Teenager Project is all about empowering teens around the world through portraits.  The goal is to have young voices be heard in hopes of creating a better future.  The portraits showcase the teens and their stories.  Overall, the project wishes to fight social division among teens.

Examples:

 

Brief bio of Robin Bowman:

Robin Bowman is a photojournalist of 38 years who captures pictures of various social and political issues.  She got her start as a photographer when doing an independent study of photography after college and became more serious about it when working at Magnum Photos.  Her photos have been spread worldwide through different publications.  Bowman's most recent book is titled "It's Complicated: The American Teenager" and it has won several awards.  Photos from the book have been featured in many collections and exhibits.  The book has been used to promote tolerance and social awareness for teens. Bowman now resides in Brooklyn, New York.



Analyzing Bowman's work:
Looking at the provided examples, it is easy to tell where the teens are from and what their background is like.  Her portraits are very nicely executed due to the details incorporated and even the expressions of the subjects.  I like how her portraits easily express the message that she is trying to send about social divisions.  All of the portraits have great composition as well.  There really isn't anything I can find that I dislike about her style or her portraits.

This project falls under the category of photojournalism because the portraits are being used to tell the teens' stories. However, it is different than traditional photojournalism because there is not a certain event being captured.  Instead, the photos are various stories from teens all around the world.