To the rest of the world, the United States is often viewed as one homogenous country (the same can be said about how we view other nations). But in reality modern-day America is made up of many diverse regions, and within them you’ll find even more diversity. To highlight the varied face of the country, the New York Times’s Lens blog asked high school students to participate in a project called “My Hometown,” where teenagers in schools or community-based photo programs submitted 4,289 images that reflect the places and people of where they live.
“From rural village and urban neighborhoods, wealthy suburbs and blue-collar Rust Belt towns,” editor James Estrin writes, “The images create an important and lasting document of America today as seen by teenagers.” More than 3,000 kids in 45 states contributed to the project, and the images were whittled down to “give a sampling of the best photos from a cross-section of the country.”
The Times has an interactive feature where you can view the photographs by state, many of them will end up in the archives of the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress.
(Image via Fernando Flaquer/The New York Times)
