MUNCIE, Ind. -- If the photographs in John Kaplan's photo essay "21" are any indication, 21-year-olds in America have very little in common.

Kaplan, instructor of photojournalism in Ball State University's Department of Journalism, won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for "21." Kaplan's "21" illustrates the lifestyles of eight people from diverse backgrounds. While at first glance they seem to have only their age in common, Kaplan says he chose the subjects based on where they seemed to be going.

"I wanted to follow some people who had become cultural icons," he said. "But I also wanted to show people left behind by society."

Kaplan turned his camera on Phil, the lead singer of a heavy metal band that would later make the big time, and Malli, a medical student at Harvard and the daughter of ABC newscaster Carole Simpson.

He caught images of Tanya as she rose to stardom as a New York fashion runway model. As a survivor of child abuse, Tanya was ready to tell someone her story, Kaplan said.

She was only beginning to like herself," he said. "Only just beginning to feel pretty."

Kaplan also shot photos of subjects whose futures were less certain. He thought Marc, a promising NFL rookie, was rushing toward celebrity. Instead, Kaplan documented the Detroit Lions player's three-game season and his first encounter with failure.

Pictures of Beatriz show the life of an illegal Mexican immigrant who chose to live in America to create a better life for her children, but whose marriage was crumbling. Images of Brian illustrated the desperate life of a California speed user who prostituted himself to support his habit. Frank's photos shared the life of an unemployed West Virginian whose face had weathered far beyond his 21 years.

Kaplan's work also includes Rodney, whose arrest for murder in Pittsburgh's Hill District gave Kaplan the idea for his project.

"Everybody else thought it was just another story, that it was just another murder in the Hill District," Kaplan said. "But I think all our lives have equal value."

Kaplan hopes that audiences of his work look deep into his photographs.

I don't want people to look at my work and say what a great lens' or what a great picture,'" he said. "I want them to see the lives of the subjects and have the photograph disappear in their interest in their lives."