Powerful portraits of trans youth in the USA

In 2014, I began a project with one question in mind: ‘What does it look like to live an authentic life?’ On some level, I must have known that I was not doing so myself… though I genuinely didn’t realise it at the time.

I came out as gay in high-school and then as bi in my early twenties. For the most part, I’ve dressed however I want and have found success in my dream career. Even so, I had no idea how much of an impact that merely asking that question would have on me.

I came to photography relatively late. At the age of 28, I was working in San Francisco as a high-school teacher and didn’t know what to do with my life. But on a summer trip to Europe, I was taking pictures one day when I thought, ‘Oh! This could be a job.’ I realised that photojournalism would allow me to be politically active, make art and travel at the same time – my three passions.

---