• June 19, 1989
• Vol. 31
• No. 24

Capturing a Love He Missed Out On, a Photographer Pays Homage to Dads and Sons

I was the son of an invisible father," writes Steven Begleiter in the preface to his photo book Fathers & Sons (Abbeville Press). "Growing up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the only time I saw him was when he came home late at night, ex-hausted from work. My mother had his dinner ready, he ate while watching TV, then fell asleep in his chair."

The pictures on these pages, taken from 1983 to 1988, are in part Begleiter's attempt to address that gap in his life. His series on fathers and sons began when, as a favor to his girlfriend, jazz singer Amy London—now his wife—Begleiter shot Broadway librettist Murray Horwitz and his son Alexander. "I hope," he says, "this book will remind fathers that it is okay to show their feelings of love—before their children become strangers."