A Very Early Photo Of Elena Kaplan

It was maybe April 1971, still a few months shy of the "Due Date" and Elena was still in the oven. Stephanie has that glow about her that only pregnant women seem to exhibit. The abdominal bulge was Elena.

I was still driving my 1961 VW Microbus. Karl's garage down the street kept it running until I bought a brand new 1972 model a year or so later. We had a 12 foot boat at the time and I made a little platform on the roof-top carriers so I could stand up there for high angle shots at various concerts and events. Most of the time I just kept the boat there. The van had no AC and the shade kept it a lot cooler inside.

The North Miami door decals were the same ones used on all of the city vehicles. It was the city's idea to give them to me. It made it easier to get into otherwise restricted areas when I was shooting stuff for the city. After a couple of years some uppity county cop decided that only official city vehicles, those with a yellow license tag saying "CITY", could have decals like that. By then everybody around knew my van and my boat anyway. I could still drive and park where I wanted.