Right before I made the first image of Sharrod, when he went to his bedroom to change, his mother turned to me and said, “Whenever he puts on his uniform, I no longer see my son.”
In the winter of 2008 I met Sharrod, who was in his first year of high school and had recently enrolled in National Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (NJROTC), a military preparatory program offered in high schools nationwide. After explaining my connection to the military and that I was an alum of the same high school that both Sharrod and his mother attended, I asked if I might photograph Sharrod from his freshman to senior year (2008-2012). They both agreed and over the course of the next four years, Shar...