Veronica at 28 | and at 38
For the last 12 years, photographer Sam Comen tracked his community through repeated portraits.
Joe at 28 | Joe at 38
From 2008 to 2020, each fall he revisited the same people, to rephotograph and interview.
Steven at 28 | Steven at 38
This site offers a look at a few stories from the 400+ portraits that comprise this project to date.
Tracking his own community throughout their thirties in more than 400 portraits, Sam Comen offers a generation's insights into fateful decisions we all make In The Prime of life.
About In The Prime
During our late twenties and throughout our thirties, we experience the prime of life. We try to figure out what we want and how to get there. We experience yearnings to do and to build, to create a family or career or both, to elevate our standard of living, to contribute, to find purpose or a path that makes sense to us. Our bodies and faces often appear ageless during that span, but inside we churn with life’s most consequential transformations.
This project tracks a community over a dozen years through repeated annual sittings with each individual. More than 400 portraits document the subjects between age 28 and age 40 to examine this specific slice of lifespan when we face momentous, self-actualizing decisions—realizing the work and relationships that define us. The community’s contraction, expansion, and evolution is in focus too, as life’s arc progresses through the point furthest from both birth and death.
For this cohort of “Xennials,” primetime began in crisis with the Great Recession of 2008 and is coming to a challenging close with the COVID-19 pandemic, implacable dominance of social media, and this make-or-break 2020 Presidential election. Cultural shifts that have rocked these lives are matched only by the monumental changes within each of them.
SELECTED STORIES:
A decade with:
Steven Birenbaum
Steven Birenbaum, a deeply committed father of two and devoted friend, who has struggled with losing a parent and navigating marriage, finds solace in his hands-on work as an environmental engineering technician on a decommissioned landfill.
About In The Prime
During our late twenties and throughout our thirties, we experience the prime of life. We try to figure out what we want and how to get there. We experience yearnings to do and to build, to create a family or career or both, to elevate our standard of living, to contribute, to find purpose or a path that makes sense to us. Our bodies and faces often appear ageless during that span, but inside we churn with life’s most consequential transformations.
This project tracks a community over a dozen years through repeated annual sittings with each individual. More than 400 portraits document the subjects between age 28 and age 40 to examine this specific slice of lifespan when we face momentous, self-actualizing decisions—realizing the work and relationships that define us. The community’s contraction, expansion, and evolution is in focus too, as life’s arc progresses through the point furthest from both birth and death.
For this cohort of “Xennials,” primetime began in crisis with the Great Recession of 2008 and is coming to a challenging close with the COVID-19 pandemic, implacable dominance of social media, and this make-or-break 2020 Presidential election. Cultural shifts that have rocked these lives are matched only by the monumental changes within each of them.
Make it stand out.
Dream it.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Build it.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
A decade with:
John Doe
Steven Birenbaum, a deeply committed father of two and devoted friend, who has struggled with losing a parent and navigating marriage, finds solace in his hands-on work as an environmental engineering technician on a decommissioned landfill.