Boston, 1962

I spent my early years in Massachusettes but moved to Miami just before my 14th birthday. What made me want to move back there? It had little to do with the fact that my dad lived there. Perhaps a more intellectual atmosphere. Miami back then was hardly a center of the arts either. What it did have going for it was warm. Boston had colleges, theaters, art galleries, art schools, subways, and snow.

I'd only become interested in photography about a year before I shot this one. I had a Canon II-s with a 35/1.8 Canon lens. Mostly I was shooting people I knew. I was never much for random "street shooting" of strangers.

This was scanned directly from the contact sheet. The scanner was set for "color" and 45+ years of sitting in a box had resulted in some discoloration.The contact sheet lacked good contrast so I boosted it. I made the discovery that boosting the contrast accentuates the brightness of the discoloration. Cool!

You Have To Go To Germany To Smoke Miami Style?

I've never been able to find Miami Style cigarette tobacco in Miami but for several years you could buy it in Germany and probably elsewhere in Europe. I've been rolling my own for decades now, going back to when fifteen cents would buy a pouch of Bugler.

Claudia and I have been divorced now for more years than we were married but when she goes back to Germany to visit her folks her dad always gives her a few pouches of tobacco for me, and there are always a few tucked in the box she gets for Christmas. Fritz, her dad, is the one who first discovered Miami Style and he started smoking it and thought that I might enjoy it also. A year or three ago Claudia couldn't find any when she went to visit her parents and the Christmas boxes started to contain a couple of pouches of other brands of tobacco. Fritz quit smoking and I'm back to Bugler, but thanks to Mukul Dube, a photographer in India, I've also discovered bidis. Maybe I should send some to Fritz.

Crankin' Up The Jig Factory Again ~ Maria Called

I just did another google search to come up with some photos of me sitting on the front porch making bucktail jigs for this post. I knew they were there someplace. So I typed keywords such as "Al Kaplan" and "bucktail jig" and came up with some STRANGE things. It seems that there's somebody else by the name of Al Kaplan who likes to fish.

>>>“Holy Mackerel!” (Al Kaplan, DougMinor)
Lockport, Manitoba and the Red River is the location for catching large catfish on a new Catfish Dynamite bait system. Lots of action and fun with these large cats.
Baits: Catfish Dynamite Huckleberries and Links http://www.strikeking.com/tv/skptj_2005_q1q2.shtml <<<

is the website where I discovered the mention. It ain't me though! And they don't make bucktail jigs.

***********************************************************************************

...But back on topic! Maria called. She and Henry were planning another fishing trip to the keys and needed more jigs. I'd first met them at least a dozen years ago atthe South Florida Fishing Club when it was a viable and competitive club here in the Miami area with a good number of members interested in light tackle fishing with artificial lures, before it was hijacked by a small group of big boat guys who always want things their way. A typical meeting would have forty or fifty people show up for dinner and a program on some sort of fishing or another. Now we're lucky if a dozen show up. Henry and Maria dropped out, and after a last ditch effort on my part to get things back on track, I dropped out too.

That means that they can no longer figure on replenishing their jig supply at the twice a month meetings so Maria calls, tells me what they want, and we meet up someplace so she can get their jigs. This photo was tken a few months ago as I got ready for her last pick-up. Well, she called a few days ago.

I'm about the only source around here of certain colors, like pink and white or green and white jigs and I'm willing to make whatever you want. Maria wanted to try green and pink! I made up half a dozen with the green on top and half a dozen with pink on top. When she stopped by the other day she gave me a glowing report about their fish catching abilities, and she said that it didn't seem to matter which color was on top. They both slaughtered the fish Then she told me that the brown and white, another one of her ideas, were great also, and that Henry had unexpectedly caught a bonefish on one while they were fishing the shallows off the northern tip of Virginia Key, within sight of downtown Miami.

Now I have to make up a bunch more of the pink and green, and she wants to try yellow and white, something I've never made before. I guess that I 'll be spending a few more evenings sitting here on the front porch keeping Maria happy.

Hang A Left. It's The Main Road To Maine...LOL

Everytime we drive under one of these I-95 bridges Monkette starts muttering about missing her friends, the two toy monkeys that got to fly up to Cambridge, Massachusettes to live with my granddaughter Gabriella. As long as it was still winter I could tell her that she wouldn't like temperatures in the teens and a couple of feet of snow on the ground. Well, now spring is here and summer is but five weeks away!

Tomorrow I'm going to make an attempt to distract her. We're going to a Love-In at Greynolds Park, just like they had back in the sixties. Back then they were a weekly happening, every Sunday. Not now. It's not free anymore either, but seven bucks ain't all that bad. And I'm not expecting to see the likes of The Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix is gone for good. There was a Love-In last year, and I missed it.

I was told to wear bell bottoms and a tie dyed T-shirt but I have neither anymore. I still have all my hair, but since I didn't know about the upcoming Love-In I had seven month's worth of growth wacked off just a couple of days ago. I guess I'll just leave a day's stubble on my face and wear one of those Chinese silk sportshirts with the palm frond pattern over faded black jeans. A couple of good tokes of ganga and it'll look close enough to tie-dye to pass. Supposedly last year the tell-tale odor of the smoke was everyplace, but the cops ignored it. I guess if they were standing down wind they didn't want to spoil a good thing. Or maybe they were concerned that they might accidently bust some of the "wrong" stoned out people in the crowd of fifty and sixty somethings. You know, community leaders, politicians, perhaps a judge or two...nah, better to just let them groove to the music. Now where in hell did I put my damned roach clip?

Karl Georg Wolf's Photography Collection

More likely just part of his collection appears in this photograph. The six prints on the left are some that he purchased from me when he and his wife visited Miami a year or two ago. Scroll down two postings for more about about the pictures. It really does something for my self esteem to know that these photographs are being displayed and enjoyed in Germany. The simple matting and narrow silver frames really show them at their best.

Karl, I hope that you and your family and friends get much enjoyment from my photographs. These images were all taken in the 1960's and early 1970's, and most of the actual prints were made then too.

Thanks, Karl, and thanks for sending this photo!