Jonathan's Early Years ~ The Lady Killer

That handsome young gentleman is my son Jonathan. I don't remember exactly why he owned a suit at the time. Perhaps for a wedding in the family? He was five years old when I shot these photos at the annual Miss North Miami Coronation Ball, but he'd reached the age where he loved to go places with me, meet new people and find out exactly what it was that Daddy did for a living.

We got dressed and I checked to make sure that I had enough film and batteries to get through the evening. A lot of the pictures had to be shot in black and white for the newspaper and the Chamber of Commerce newsletter, as well as get color shots of the girls with their sponsors. I think that Jonathan was the only one there that not only got to dance with all twelve of the contestants, but they were the ones who asked him to dance.

These scans are off some old prints and somehow it just seems more authentic to leave the faded colors and age stains. The photos were taken with a 35mm Summicron on a Leica M camera, but I don't remember which model.

Al Kaplan And Jon Sinish On Miami Beach

If you've been following this blog for awhile I'm sure that you're aware that Jon and I have been friends now for about forty years. We just look young! Every time he's visiting Miami there's the obligatory trip to Miami Beach so he can see the genuine Atlantic Ocean instead of Long Island Sound.

There's a bit of size distortion caused by the perspective of the 15mm Heliar, but I am 6' 3" and Jon is just a tad shorter. I have a much larger nose too. That part isn't camera induced distortion! The camera hanging from my shoulder is my Leica CL with a 40mm Summicron.

When I shot this one I hadn't had the Bessa with the 15mm Heliar for very long, and I wasn't yet very good at guessing the framing while holding the camera off to the side. I'm still not exactly adept at shooting verticals with the rig. I like this picture anyway. That stance and facial expression are pure Sinish!