The Space In Between

When leaving the military many veterans feel lost and unsure what to do next. Many will transfer directly to the civilian side of their previous job. But many will go to college to earn a degree in hopes of transitioning into a new job field or to gain a bit more time to figure out what comes next in their lives. For student veterans college can be a bit isolating, as they are almost always older then their classmates, and even some of their professors.

This project is structured around pairs of portraits. For each subject, there are two photographs, and the meaning is found in the contrast between them. The tension between wanting to withdraw and connect, between wanting to get close to people and wanting to retreat, this transition between images is central to this project.

The first portrait is a clean headshot against a white background. These portraits are created to meet a practical need, providing professional images for resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and career materials for soon-to-be-graduating military veterans at the University of Montana. The idea is similar to Portraits for Patriots, which offers headshots to transitioning service members as they enter the civilian workforce. This first image is like a new face being created for the professional world, a useful mask that we present to the world.

The second image shifts in tone. These portraits are low-key, darker, and more introspective, resisting the clarity and polish of the first. Rather than presenting a fixed identity, they gesture toward the complexity beneath it. Many veterans, myself included, navigate experiences of transition, isolation, and invisible struggle. These images do not attempt to define those experiences, but to hold space for them, to suggest what exists beyond the surface of the professional mask.