Joseph Szabo’s pictures of American adolescents from the 1970s and 1980s capture a pre-digital era of spontaneous presence. His subjects at Malverne High School on Long Island project an insouciant grace, unshaped by Instagram, AI, or TikTok. As Kim Gordon writes, Szabo captures what it felt like in a pre-filter-polished world.

Szabo, now 82, started teaching darkroom photography at Malverne in 1973, using the magic of developing prints to connect with disaffected students. He carried a camera everywhere, photographing students at school, the deli, Jones Beach, a Rolling Stones concert, and even their homes before nights out.

The new book “American Teen” is published by Important Flowers, an imprint founded by Sofia Coppola. Coppola first saw Szabo’s work on the album cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s “Green Mind” and admires how his images feel intimate without being intrusive. The kids “don’t have their guards up,” she said.