For his series Homies, Contender Adam Amengual spent time at LA's Homeboy Industries, a non-profit organization that provides counseling, job training and other free services to former gang members (and the formerly incarcerated) looking to re-enter and contribute to society.

Daniel Castillo, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Amengual says of the organization, "It is a place that takes people in and sees the potential in them when others do not." Of the series, he explains:

In shooting this project I hope that people can see the subjects for what they are, humans trying to better themselves. The style in which these people have been photographed begs the comparison to a mug shot. Almost all of these people have been arrested and have had a mug shot taken of them. I feel like I have... made a more beautiful version of an ugly picture from their past—just like what the subjects themselves are doing with their own lives.

Cindy Hernandez, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Carlos Nieto, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Adam Amengual was born in Queens, New York, and was raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts. After studying the basics of photography in high school, he continued his photographic education at both Massachusetts College of Art and Parsons School of Design, in New York. After art school, Adam moved to Brooklyn, NY, and began assisting photographers in advertising, fashion, celebrity and music. Over the past six years he has assisted many well-established photographers. He has worked with Ruven Afanador, Don Flood, Danielle Levitt, Norman Jean Roy, Art Streiber and Ben Watts, to name just a few. Adam is currently located in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Kate, and dog, Shug. His recently completed project, entitled Homies, has been featured on several blogs, including TIME LightBox, Prison Photography, this is the what, Conscientious and We Can Shoot Too, and it is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.