Things Shouldn't Be So Hard

A collection of photos examining all the profundity and sameness of youth by the acclaimed photographer best known for her work with Taylor Swift.

Through her work with Taylor Swift—shooting the covers and promotional photos for her last several albums—photographer Beth Garrabrant has created imagery beloved by millions. Apart from her work with Swift, Garrabrant has spent the past two decades devoted to an ambitious project: documenting young people around the country. At their schools and churches, in their kitchens and bedrooms, at their proms and sporting events and part-time jobs, at amusement parks and in the backseats of cars where they spend so much of their idle time.

In Things Shouldn’t Be So Hard, the first collection of her work, Garrabrant movingly captures what it’s like to be not yet an adult in America: specifically the contradictory and often simultaneous states of camaraderie and isolation, confidence and insecurity, love and heartbreak, hope and despair. Featuring an introduction by lauded filmmaker Kelly Reichardt—who likens Garrabrant to modern masters such as William Eggleston and Robert Adams—this gorgeously designed four-color book showcases one of the most talented and soulful visual artists working today.