Joseph Szabo

Photographer Joseph Szabo's subject is adolescence; his rare gift is capturing the spirit of his students at Malverne High School, caught between puberty and the precipice of adulthood. Taken in the 70s and 80s, the photographs in Teenage represent a remarkable evocation of that period, and yet there is something timeless and endlessly compelling about Szabo's portrait of almost-adulthood. Some kids are painfully self-conscious, others are self-assured beyond their years--all have allowed Szabo the unique trust of seeing them as they are. The fine line between intimacy and exploitation that other photographers approach is not in evidence here--Szabo has no agenda beyond the recording of these moments of extreme loveliness, bravado and confusion. With an introduction by writer/director Cameron Crowe--himself an expert chronicler of the excitement and heartbreak of youth, having directed Fast Times at Ridegemont High and more recently Almost Famous--Teenage is a poignant record of Szabo's work spanning two decades, a timeless evocation of almost-adulthood.