New York based photographer, Ryan McGinley is adept at capturing teens in their most vulnerable state. Take a look through his portfolio and you’ll begin to start remembering those formative years. Those years where you’re caught between the innocence of childhood and the freedom of adulthood. It’s a time when experimentation is the norm. What I love most about McGinley’s photos, however, is how uncontrived they feel. As he states, “When I photograph people I want them to be preoccupied, so they’re really not aware of my camera. I do everything possible to distract them. When someone is running around, or jumping, or falling, or rolling down a sand dune – and then you add smoke or fireworks to that – the subject is forced in their own world. They become very natural, and also there’s a sense of disorientation.”
“Photography is about freezing a moment in time; McGinley’s is about freezing a stage in a lifetime. Young and beautiful is as fleeting as a camera snap–and thus all the more worth preserving.” – Time Magazine