L. PANNACK for PANASONIC

Laura Pannack’s new project, supported by Panasonic LUMIX’s Stories for Change collaboration with British Journal of Photography, is a bold documentation of a young Hasidic man stepping away from the stricter bounds of his faith. “I don’t want Baruch’s decision to be seen as him leaving his religion; that isn’t what happened.” The subject of Laura Pannack’s newest project is a young man taking his first steps into a new life. “He is proud to be Jewish,” says Pannack, “but wanted to explore certain things that his lifestyle did not permit. So he broke away from his community.” The photographer has spent the past year coming to know Baruch and documenting his exploration of how to be Jewish alone: studying, learning, and becoming independent."