15-18

Teenagers are most often photographed doing drugs, drinking, fornicating or behaving badly. The portraits in ‘15-18’ taken with the co-operation and collaboration of the sitters, respect this generation.
Shot with a 10x8 format view camera, using colour Polaroid material, means that the colour balance of every sheet exposed will vary.

Edward Barber and his team entered where most parents fear to tread. As they move from childhood to adulthood, teenagers guard the privacy of their rooms. Few people access this sensitive “zone”.

This is home territory where teenagers present themselves to the world as they want to be seen. At a time when there is much talk of “social engagement” in photography, these portraits provide an antidote to the usual salacious pictures of 21st century youth.

They are intimate studies of people at a delicate and difficult time of their lives. They are an unique document of a generation.