Photographer Beth Garrabrant has spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to grow up in America. Most notably, she’s collaborated closely with one of the nation’s leading voices on girlhood: Taylor Swift. (She's shot the singer's album artwork since folklore.) But even before the two connected, so-called timeless representations of coming of age were omnipresent in Garrabrant’s childhood. She was raised in Lake Forest, Illinois, best known as the Chicago suburb that inspired many of John Hughes’ iconic teen films (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club), and growing up, it felt like she was in one herself.
While it came together somewhat inadvertently outside of her work with Swift, Garrabrant’s lifelong interest in youth culture, her suburban upbringing, and her focus on portraiture led her to create her own project about youth in America. Titled Things Shouldn’t Be So Hard (published by Simon & Schuster on November 12), it features photos illustrating how coming of age in America is not a monolith. Instead, it shows beauty exists in the quieter, more vulnerable moments of our shared experiences like being alone in our bedrooms; riding in the backseats of our loved ones' cars; in between classes in school hallways.
