How can teenage youth be portrayed through photography?

‘My only agend¹a is to bring attention to otherwise ignored and shunned lives.’ Jim Goldberg

The definition of youth from the oxford dictionary is ‘the period between childhood and adult age’.² I reflect not just the technicalities of it but also the raw emotions. By using nostalgia I create a relationship between the view of the images are your feelings. My images consist of light and dark, happiness and sadness, correlating with the ever ending roller coaster of youth. I portray youth in two binary opposites, teenage boys and teenage girls, the two groups that are meant to fall in love with each other the most but have the most opposites. Two photographers that inspired me are Jim Goldberg³ and Danny Evans⁴. I resonate with their portrayals of being a middle class teenager. I have used this inspiration to intertwine my work to be something reflective of me and the life that I live.

Jim Goldberg is an American artist and photographer who’s work reflects long-term relationships with ignored cultures.⁵ He is mainly known for his raised by wolves exhibition, where he was concerned for the risk of homelessness youth in California.

Goldberg would find teenagers on the street who were struggling and take candid raw photos of them to portray how action needed to be taken to create a change.

‘Every single immigrant is part of a larger history that needs to be communicated in all its ambivalences and complexities.’⁶

Goldberg further explains how change is not aimed politically but is for the people.

‘I’m not a politically radical person. In fact, I’m much more interested in being radical aesthetically.’⁷

His book presents teenage culture as hard and alienating through the single snapped shot of raw emotions. Goldberg was inspired by his ongoing interest of people in their positions in society such as a function of broader cultural policies and practises.

• Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. Or think more philosophically about the nature of photography and its feeble relationship with reality.
• You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study, e.g.
• What are you going to investigate?
• How does this area/ work interest you?
• What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument?
• Whose work (artists/photographers) are you analysing and why?
• What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within?
• What links are there with your previous studies?
• What have you explored or experimented with so far in your photography project?
• How will your work develop.
• What camera skills, techniques or digital processes have you used, or going to experiment with?

1. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jim-goldberg-quotes ↩︎
2. https://www.google.com/search?ei=W-laZ5LbHtKdkdUPxO716AU&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiBXlvdXRoMg0QABiABBhDGMkDGIoFMgsQABiABBiSAxiKBTINEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYCjIFEAAYgAQyCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BMgsQLhiABBjHARivATIFEAAYgAQyCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgARI3QhQnwVYnwVwAXgBkAEAmAFdoAFdqgEBMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCAqACY8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFmAMAiAYBkAYKkgcBMqAHnBA&oq=youth&q=youth&rlz=1C1GCEA_enJE1126JE1126&safe=active&sca_esv=e095c950f9c2c4db&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&surl=1&uact=5&ved=0ahUKEwjS9IGar6KKAxXSTqQEHUR3HV0Q4dUDCBA ↩︎
3. https://jimgoldberg.com/ ↩︎
4. https://www.instagram.com/dannyphoto/?hl=en ↩︎
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Goldberg ↩︎
6. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jim_goldberg_585734 ↩︎
7. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jim_goldberg_585734 ↩︎