Four years ago I shot a project based on the transition from youth to adulthood and used the skate park in my local town as a base to work from. That location is interesting because each generation of young adult tends to congregate around the area, forming social groups and developing strong bonds. The location is a focal point in the town; if you want to engage with the next generation of our adult society and find out what they care about, what their hopes and dreams are, this is as good a place as any to explore.

I’m always nervous about engaging with this generation however; the vile cynicism and neuroticism of our society means that even the most open minded and progressive of individuals would caveat their thought processes when you explain that you, a middle age male, are photographing ‘young teenagers’. It is a form of bias of course, but like all other forms of bias, has little to do with deep seated structural prejudice. It is simply what Daniel Khaneman called system one thinking or what psychologists have called ‘heuristics’ since the early 19780s.

Nevertheless, I am fascinated and intrigued by these ‘bright young things’, the representatives of their group being anually refreshed at the skate park as one generation moves on to explore their adult lives and the next group begins their own initial foray.