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84 Intimate Portraits Of 1970s Rebellious Youth Captured By High School Teacher
Before Joseph Szabo was a world renown photographer, he was a teacher at Malverne High School in Long Island. And on his first days at the job he figured that he's gonna need something special to catch the attention of his pupils. So he brought a camera into class...
"I never had any agenda with my photography – it was never a money-making thing, it was just about connecting with young people – and so I think my photographs have a sort of authentic or genuine quality that a lot of people seem able to relate to," Joseph told Huck Magazine. "I have always tried to capture these very personal moments, in an honest way, to show people doing exactly what they’re doing. They could just be sitting on the school steps smoking a cigarette or they could be hanging out of a car door waving their hands and saying, ‘This is the last day of school and I’ll never come back here again!’ They could be jumping in the air with excitement because of the music they’re listening to or they could be like one of my all-time favorites Priscilla – the little girl smoking at Jones Beach – who expresses something about girlhood as well as something about a certain kind of maturity and experience."
"All these subjects and moments mean so much to me. They helped me understand people and allowed me to connect with them over the years. I hope they mean something to other people too."
More info: Joseph Szabo
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Janice Foster 9 years ago
Ironic that these shorts were acceptable in the 70s, but the next Bored Panda article is about a girl who recently got in trouble at school because her shorts were shorter than the length of her arms (when by her side.) Who is making these current rules? People who grew yoo in the 70s, maybe?@
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Anna Thouvenin 9 years ago
Some of those fashion items are so vintage. It would be fun that those glasses came back into trendy :D
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Joanna Huang 9 years ago
Wait, I thought the photographer was just a teacher??!! How did he get into their rooms?
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Willem Havenaar 9 years ago
This guy wears a t-shirt of the German metal band Warlock. This band was formed in 1982.
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Nikki Sutton 9 years ago
"We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can."
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Fred Burrows 9 years ago
I was a troublemaker of sorts but Sister Christian in the center there would be getting anonymous poetry in her locker .
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Griselle Lugo 9 years ago
I wonder what signal was the hand giving?? A fist? A middle finger? Who knows...
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Janet Mayer 3 years ago
I had a winter coat like that. Wish I would have saved some of my clothes!
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bigoldthor 9 years ago
"Dear lord, we thank you for this Baby Ruth bar we are about to receive."
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bigoldthor 9 years ago
"I wonder if I could stand on one leg and spread my arms out like a pelican's wings, crouching ominously in a pre-kick position..."
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Jhoa 9 years ago
Lovely pictures. The only concerning thing is that this guy is supposedly a teacher? And there are photographs in women's bathrooms and peoples bedrooms.
Steve Gad 8 years ago
You're applying Millennial paranoia to 45 year old art. . No one was thinking that back then, and what a shame folk like you perpetuate the 'All men are opportunist child molesters' mindset. It doesn't help. Please just enjoy the photographs. Thanks.
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John L 9 years ago
This late 70s period was the 'let down' after the Vietnam generation of protests, drugs, and hippies. There weren't any real causes to get worked up over, so the 'Starsky & Hutch' kids just marked time and turned inward. It was also the blurred dividing line where the Baby Boomers and GenXers couldn't make up their minds what they wanted to be.
Shari H 9 years ago
I still haven't made up my mind...or maybe I just want to be me. I'll tell you in 17 years when I'm free from the 9-5 grind. I know that time will fly past because I could swear I was 18 yesterday...
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Jhoa 9 years ago
Lovely pictures. The only concerning thing is that this guy is supposedly a teacher? And there are photographs in women's bathrooms and peoples bedrooms.
Steve Gad 8 years ago
You're applying Millennial paranoia to 45 year old art. . No one was thinking that back then, and what a shame folk like you perpetuate the 'All men are opportunist child molesters' mindset. It doesn't help. Please just enjoy the photographs. Thanks.
Load More Replies... John L 9 years ago
This late 70s period was the 'let down' after the Vietnam generation of protests, drugs, and hippies. There weren't any real causes to get worked up over, so the 'Starsky & Hutch' kids just marked time and turned inward. It was also the blurred dividing line where the Baby Boomers and GenXers couldn't make up their minds what they wanted to be.
Shari H 9 years ago
I still haven't made up my mind...or maybe I just want to be me. I'll tell you in 17 years when I'm free from the 9-5 grind. I know that time will fly past because I could swear I was 18 yesterday...
Load More Replies... 
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