At the end of 2004, I began working on a photography project that focused on how socially defined gender roles have shaped and standardized how men and women should look and act in order to be accepted. I decided to contact people that I thought might have firsthand experience dealing with this subject.

After locating transgender support groups through out the state of Washington I sent an e-mail to these organizations describing my concept for this project, including questions and concerns that I had about working with the transgender community.
I emphasized how I wished to take on this project in a way that did not demean or exploit the transgender community and that I was open to criticism or suggestions that they had to offer. Within a few days I received a number of e-mails offering praise, conceptual advice, and volunteers interested in being part of the project. As I entered the lives of the people who were kind enough to allow me to photograph them, I found that sitting down and talking to them deconstructed my own biases surrounding the transgender community. I came to realize how little I knew about the issues that transgendered people deal with everyday. Almost everything I had originally thought I knew was based on false or exaggerated stereotypes generated by cultural media (Hollywood) and my own small-town upbringing.

After working so closely with all who have allowed me photograph them, I produced a set of images that portrayed my subjects as I had come to know them - as real people struggling to find their identities in order to live otherwise “normal” lives. The project consists of a combination of photographs, my personal notes about my collaboration with each individual, and in some cases a personal article (poetry, letters and artwork) given to me by those who wanted to share a more intimate part of their lives with those who wish to view this project.