The juvenile boot camp series came about because I thought it was a logical conclusion to another series I had done on prisons. I wanted to photograph these kids because, first and foremost, I was unfamiliar with the kind of delinquency they got involved with that landed them in boot camp. You and I didn’t grow up in an environment where drugs, and carjacking, and gangbanging were common. These kids have total disregard for life and for themselves. But it’s not their fault. I totally believe it is a matter of environment.
I had the opportunity to watch the indoctrination process and got permission to do a before-and-after series. This is how the initial indoctrination works: the kids are handcuffed at juvenile detention and driven in a van 15 at a time. At this point they have no idea what is in store for them and still have a street attitude. When they get to the camp, they are unshackled, and then ambushed, totally manhandled by about 45 deputies. The party has ended. The fear in these kids is incredible.
The first photograph was taken shortly after they arrived, the second about three minutes after they had their heads shaved. They haven’t gotten over the shock that the life they once new is gone, perhaps forever. The new inmates have been ridiculed, ordered around, shaved, and don’t know which way is up--and it comes across in the photographs.
©1998 Steven Katzman
LensWork Quarterly, No. 22
Epilogue: This Florida State sponsored project was abandoned because of the excessive conditions (both mental and physical), imposed upon the juveniles.
Commentary
All photography is comparison. Let me repeat that lest it go past you too fast. All photography is comparison. Those spectacular views of Yosemite by Ansel Adams are always understood in comparison to the ordinary landscape we see and live in every day. The frightening image of the burned Vietnamese girl by Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut is understood in comparison to the physical appearance of ordinary people who are not Hollywood glamorous.
In most cases, the object of comparison in the photograph is understood incomparison to an implied norm. Think the burning Hindenburg zeppelin compared to the normal flight of a zeppelin in our mind’s eye. However, Steven Katzman did a most interesting thing in this portfolio—he brought those comparisons front and center, and it is comparison itself that is the understated focus of his portfolio.
His subjects are all troubled youth who were sent to a “boot camp” for young offenders, where they were given one last opportunity to straighten out their lives through discipline. Katzman was granted access to photograph these kids upon entry and a few hours later, after their hair was shaved off and they had their first real taste of the challenges that lay before them. The comparison in their expressions, attitude, and body language is simply amazing.
Katzman has simplified our viewing by making the visual comparison unmistakable. In some of the images, he has placed the before and after portraits in the same image, like this one. In others, he makes diptychs with the two portraits next to each other. The comparisons are mesmerizing and a wonderful example of how photographic technique and graphic layout skills can tell a story with simplicity—and yet be a powerful effective medium of communication.
It should also be noted the comparisons Katzman would like us to notice are emphasized through the introductory text. The title of the portfolio, Boot Camp tells us the context, but is open to the misunderstanding that this has something to do with military induction. It does not. We need to read his introductory text to set the stage for all the images that follow. This is a great example of what I characterize as a “conceptually driven” project: one that can only be fully understood once the concept behind the project is known. For these kinds of projects, special attention to that introductory test is of paramount importance so that it is readable, effective, and so that it will be read. Image captions can help too, but one way or another, the concept must be the foundation of viewing this work.
©2014 Brooks Jensen
Looking at Images
ISBN # 978-0-9904681-0-3