Becoming a teenager is a very complicated process. You are suddenly given a new pubescent body that comes with a whole new set of rules; all of a sudden, girls need to worry about the opposite sex, mood swings, appearance, and changing relationships with friends and family. These changes can take a heavy toll.

At this age figuring out who you are and fitting in and being accepted into a group are the only things that matter; but fitting in involves changing yourself in order to comply with existing standards. 

There is an incredible amount of pressure to look mature, but not slutty, and act in a way that is at the same time neither childish nor too mature. This balancing act requires pre-adolescent girls to fake a certain amount of sexual bravado that masks their true innocence.

Girls imitate adult behaviors, postures and words that are often learned through the media when in fact they don't understand the true meaning of these actions. The adoption of adult behaviors and grooming rituals has become an almost standard part a girl's passage through the pre-teen years.

For better or worse, these issues exist and I wish to document them in a way that is both evocative and kind to young girls. The passage into adolescence is not unique to females, but what they experience at this time is original.  Girls are incredibly vulnerable during this time, not unlike a newborn animal that is left to learn the ways of the jungle using both instinct and observation. My photographs approach this subject with deep caring for the girls rather than a desire to exploit their vulnerability.