Between my great uncle Sal and myself we have taken hundreds of portraits of Captain Tony that Sals little brother and my grandfather We both knew one day Captain Tony might become famous he also loved getting his picture taken this is one of my favorite images that Sal took in New York City mid 70s midtown Manhattan, Captain Tony has no shoes on, back in the hippy days The 60s my grandfather hardly ever wore shoes you would see him a lot walking around his bar in Key West with no shoes on it all started on his fishing boats he fished Cuban style with a hand line the line is always laying on the deck and you have to feel it with your feet If you use that style, you catch a lot more fish hand lining than a rod and reel have to be barefooted I figure I’ll give you that little piece of history that’s how Ernest Hemingway the old man and the sea fished

New Jersey is a little state but we are known for a lot of cool things first of all we are the garden state best tomatoes, corn, egg plants and cranberries in the country and as far as Italians I have to admit were the coolest Italians I’m sure a lot of people will argue that, But one thing you can’t argue back in the 80s jersey had 203 strip clubs and over 4000 dancers no stare had that many, Florida was close but jersey definitely gets the award I know better than anybody because I was the photographer for the only Go Go magazine in the country at the time mentertainment we actually had two magazines one in New York and one in Jersey we even had one magazine that went to every strip club in America every four months the other magazines were monthly in a three-year-period I published over 1200 dancers with releases also did over 150 portfolios of exotic women, I even supplied Howard some with some Snapple girls I was so well known I was contacted by CNBC to be on the Bob Berkowitz show Real personal that went national I was a smash hit And then at the end of my run and career I was contacted by showtime to talk about some type of interview, At that time I was out of the business and was in a relationship an my first son was on the way so I declined this photo right here was at a place called centerfolds they would always have a little beauty contest there every Wednesday The customers got to judge and we gave away free magazine and T-shirts I did these contests in a lot of clubs in New York also

Captain Tony’s saloon Key West Florida 50 years ago, I remember quite well I was 13 years old and I finally got to meet my wild crazy grandfather that I heard about my whole childhood he used to send me lots of cool stuff to New Jersey shark jaws, cannonballs, some bayonets, and really cool photos I would always show my friends these incredible photos of my grandfathers 60 foot fishing boats the bar and him with giant fish and sexy women I had to meet this guy anyway my dad took us on vacation there what a experience I got to meet my third grandmother and his beautiful stepdaughter’s went out fishing And snorkeling, one night we all went out to dinner the captain took us and he brought some hot blonde date Stacy after dinner we stopped by his bar he hand a acid rock band perform on stage all the bartenders had little T-shirts on with his face on it with no bras after that whole experience I know were I was gonna move when I turned 18 I ended up moving there when I was 20 the rise and fall of Keith west be very careful speeding in the fast lane with no seatbelts on

One of my favorite original negatives and photo for many reasons, sometime a photo can tell 1000 stories, This one right here 5000 stores first of all the year 1942 its the beginning of World War II that’s my father and his little sister Tonia 78 years ago walking down the street The street there is Elizabeth Avenue The big building in the background is the union county courthouse I know that place a little too well, if you look on the far right on this image you’ll see a barbershop and a gangster type looking guy in front, that barbershop was actually One of the biggest boogie joints In New Jersey Henny Lasals Great uncle Lou worked there as a barber and bedding consultant ha ha and right down the street was one of great uncle Sal’s photo mask studios it was hidden from the public because the police were not fond of great uncle Sal being gay and making Bazaar masks and the hypnotizing of people an reading there minds didn’t help oh one more thing that camera shop on the right upstairs Sal got all his printing paper, chemicals an film, Captain Tony and Sal were silent partners in the business, This is a great example how one photo could tell a story

40 years ago in 1979 Key West had this great new wave rock ‘n’ roll band, they played some great original music that they wrote and did a lot of the talking heads, Ramones, the clash, and Devo we had them during season for two years six nights a week from nine at night to 3 o’clock in the morning beside me taking this photo for the Key West Citizen newspaper I became the bands manager one summer I booked us a bunch of gigs in Fort Lauderdale The button, the new wave lounge, and Summers three great clubs it’s funny my grandfather’s bar was so popular all I had to was tell the other bars in Fort Lauderdale that they were my house band and I’m Tony’s grandson these clubs were very big they paid us a lot of money and put us up in hotels I got to party like a rockstar for a month and a half another one of my adventures miss those guys

Last month lisa and I went on a little trip to Saint Pete’s Florida that’s on the West Coast Hotels were so cheap One night about an hour before sunset we made a bunch of really great margaritas and jumped in the pool after that we decided to go for a walk on the beach and watch the sunset Big ceremony there that’s what’s great about the West Coast of Florida incredible sunsets my first Roll of film I shot 42 years ago was the famous Key West sunset I sold and published many of those images even did two posters so anyway I see the sun going down I see people on the jetties pull out my iPhone even though I had my big camera with me and took this image I love it

He or she was about 6 foot four I was on Canal Street it was pouring out I was going for the Kodak frozen moment when the fill flash went off this giant person said what the fuck are you doing usually I have a quick response for some reason I froze up because this person was closing up their umbrella and then all of a sudden he says can I see the photoI I said sure She liked the photo very much I gave him my card and said just call my cell I’ll send it to you Usually when somebody wants to see the picture I’ve taken at times they try to snatch the camera or knock it out of my hand but everything went well

We had a store right next to Parsons school of design 40th and 7th Ave., Heidi Klun was working out of there for a year since that was my spot where I photographed from I got To take a lot of photos of her I even got to photograph a couple of those runway shows in there Directly across the street Al Sharpton was always in some type of meeting Have a Lotta pictures of him he’s not very photogenic

I’m not much of a dog lover after not seeing Lisa for 37 years And closing up shop in New York City and coming directly to her house To be with her I had to meet her dog, on the way to her house from the airport she told me when I meet her dog just come in and sit on the couch she doesn’t like when people look down on her especially when she doesn’t know them so I was thinking I’m a new man in the house is this dog going to bite my hand off anyway I sat on the couch and she came over to me sniff me a little bit I patted her head she stepped back and gave me this look I grabbed my iPhone right away and did her first portrait we are now best friends she’s a spoiled little brat like her mom but I love both of them

When I inherited my great uncle Sal‘s collection of photography glass slides and negatives they were all in these Kodak boxers that held 4 x 5 negatives a lot of different writing on these boxes one of the boxes said Sals prizes in that box was a couple hundred gorgeous man that’s the only way a straight guy like me could describe them I’m not attracted to men at all obviously but I got to Tell you I see why my great uncle Sal what is gay