Cousin Joel's First Smoke

1961 was the year Joel turned 11. I guess today I'd get thrown in jail for child abuse but my Aunt Anne, Joel's mother, was offering me cigarettes when I was about that age. She did tell me that Kent cigarettes were milder and I should switch from Marlboros. At the time both of my parents smoked unfiltered Lucky Strikes. Joel is probably lighting a Kent because Marlboros had "cork" colored filter tips. A few years later I did switch brands, to unfiltered Camels.

The photo was shot in our grandmother's living room on 127 Tri-X, probably with a Ricoh 44 twin lens reflex camera. We were most likely all dressed up to go to temple for the Jewish holidays.

I Wonder What I Was Thinking?

Here's another one of those photos of me from the era of wide collars, bell bottoms, wild prints, and long hair. I remember the shirt was sort of a royal blue with an off-white pattern of what looked sort of like rope. It was most likely shot by my wife Stephanie. She also would have chosen the location because of the way the light highlighted my curly hair, played with the structure of my face, and accented the luminosityof my light blue-green eyes.

Of course there is that ever present pen visible clipped in my shirt pocket, along with the bulge of a pack of Camels. Someday I'd love to meet a reporter who actually carries their own pen and paper when they're not actively on a story, and most of them seem to forget it when they are! And they still bum cigarettes with an "Oh, I finally quit, but every once in awhile I get the urge..."

As for what I was thinking? I ain't got a clue!