As part of our 20th anniversary summer series, we’re proud to spotlight the work of Joseph Szabo, whose photographs have become some of the most iconic representations of American adolescence.
Shot over two decades during his tenure as a high school teacher on Long Island, Szabo’s portraits capture teenagers at their most vulnerable, defiant, and beautifully in-between—no longer children, not yet adults. Whether in school hallways, suburban parking lots, or the crowded shores of Jones Beach, his images radiate empathy, curiosity, and the subtle drama of becoming.
There is no artifice in Szabo’s lens—just a deep trust in the moment and the people in front of it. His work endures because it feels both specific and universal, fixed in time yet endlessly resonant.
Joseph Szabo’s photographs of American youth have been widely celebrated and exhibited internationally. His first book, Almost Grown (1978), was named one of the American Library Association’s “Best Books of the Year,” followed by Teenage (2003), published by Greybull Press. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship in 1984, and his work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, and the Brooklyn Museum. His photographs are held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the George Eastman Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Szabo’s images have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue Hommes International, Dazed and Confused, and Les Inrockuptibles, among others.