From ages 12 to 18, the summers I spent at Rowe Camp in the mountains of Massachusetts were a life-changing culture shock and nothing short of paradise. Grounded in the ideals of a counter-cultural past and freed from the forced constraints of a conventional camp experience, Rowe empowers teenagers to invent an autonomous society of their own. It's a glimpse into what the world would be like if no ideas were too absurd or unattainable, and the harsh blow of adolescence was softened by otherwise impossible freedoms. In August 2008, two decades removed from my Rowe years of sporting Reebok high-tops, a mouth full of braces and an unfortunate '80s perm, I was invited to return and photograph the new crop of campers.

The current rituals and intricacies of this society mirror my own memories of the past, which informs the universality of those awkward, thrilling, challenging years in one's early life. Adults are not entirely absent, but they take a respectful backseat to the often dismissed opinions of the camp's teen citizens. I focused on examining the joys, obstacles, and underlying feelings of youth within the constraints of an environment that actively encourages eccentricity and individualism.