How Much Of Your Life Would You Let Your Mom Photograph?

When the award-winning film Boyhood came to theaters last year, millions of people were captivated by Richard Linklater's 12-year-long coming-of-age tale of the modern male. New York-based photographer Martine Fougeron's longstanding project Teen Tribe travels a similar path. Since her sons, Adrien and Nicolas, were 13 and 14, respectively, Fougeron has inserted herself (and her camera) into their emotional and physical development to a degree that would send most teenagers running, vodka bottle in hand, for the woods. She's photographed her sons and their friends exhaustively, and for the most part they've allowed her to witness it all — and then to share it with us.

The result is a narrative of their growing up that is both comfortingly representative and immodestly odd. Fougeron snaps her son in the bath, descends on Halloween bashes, bears witness to party-bus antics, and embraces moments of intimacy. Teen Tribe evokes that feeling of inviting your mom to smoke a casual joint, training a third eye on all the parts of adolescent life that aren't necessarily secret, but that are perhaps better experienced alone.

Ahead, the artist comments on the emotional context of some of her most intriguing shots. Look, Mom, no filter.