Sherry, The November Girl

November 1969 was the month that I turned 27 and according to our annual ritual Jim Kukar had asured me back in July that it was possible to turn 27 and still feel alive. He recently gave me the same a asurance about turning 67. Somehow "feeling alive" now doesn't quite feel the same as "feeling alive" did back then.

Jim was editing the North Dade Journal and I was the photographer. I got to go all sorts of places and meet all sorts of people. I suspect that was how I first met Sherry. I remember that she lived maybe a dozen blocks away and she wanted me to take some pictures of her. She liked the idea of being photographed in the nearby woods and frankly I was a little surprised when she told me that she wanted to pose for some nudes, but being the gentleman that I am I obliged her wishes.

That piece of cloth covered the tattered upholstry of the seat back in my VW Microbus, and the stripes were shades of magenta. The wooded area was to the north of 163rd St. east of U.S. 1, growing on filled in salt marsh. The taller trees are Australian pine while the bushes are Brazilian pepper, both invasive fast growing non-native species that the state has since spent a huge fortune cutting down and clearing out.

Sherry had a natural flair for posing and moving around gracefully, and we got several nice photos but this was our favorite. I was using my Minolta Autocord. The scan is off the contact sheet.