In my view, only a self-revealing portrait is beautiful and if a photo of person isn't self-revealing, then it isn't a portrait.
Photographing adolescent females in our society is challenging since they are acutely aware of their projected image and tend to do whatever they can to alter themselves to conform to their perceived ideal self. Since the stereotypical adolescent female image is cloyingly sweet, or sexually mature beyond her years, in my view this stereotype lacks beauty because who ever adopts it lacks self-revelation. Observing my own daughter, I have found that adolescent females reveal themselves in piques of anger, possibly because fury displaces control, and it is this self-revelation that interests me. I only wish that the circumstances that give rise to the self-revelation were calmer.
I am intrigued by the paradox that contrary to the stereotype, adolescent females are beautiful when they are angry.
The images below show the transformation of an adolescent female, from contrived posing to fury. The trigger for her fury was a male: her younger brother.
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